


POSER

by ImogenEmoji, TheBandomGirl2



Category: Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Hey Monday, Mindless Self Indulgence, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, Queen (Band), The Academy Is..., The Cure (Band), The Killers, The Smiths
Genre: (kind of I don't fucking know), Comedy, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, High School AU, High School Drama, M/M, Modern AU, Multi, Prom, Romance, Underage Drinking, goes crazy goes stupid, pete wentz goes sicko mode on every edgy band member, pete wentz is a fucking demon, this is a fucking meme don't come for our necks, we spent hours making a stupid timeline for this I hope y'all are happy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-05-02 18:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14550246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenEmoji/pseuds/ImogenEmoji, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBandomGirl2/pseuds/TheBandomGirl2
Summary: Brandon is the new kid. He shows up in all his glittery glory and Pete Wentz hates it. Little does he know that one fight in the cafeteria is going to change the school forever, love triangles, gold suits and eyeliner galore.





	1. Chapter 1 - Who the fuck is he?

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooo everyone! this is my first collab. Long story short, Imogen sent me into Killers hell and this is what happened when we started talking about it. Hope you enjoy this lmao. 
> 
> Love you all
> 
> Edie xoxo

[ september first - 2017 - brandon flowers’ first day of senior year at armstrong high school ]

The bells are ringing and everyone is groaning. No one wants to be here, yet here they are. Brandon pushes open the front doors, trying not to gain too much attention or judgement from anyone else, but it’s not helping that he’s wearing glitter on his fucking face. Almost everyone in the hallways turns their head to look at him. It’s not often that new seniors start going to school here. Nonetheless, he thinks that they’re staring because of the glitter. He looks to the right and sees two guys making out, leaning up against a locker. He wonders why people aren’t staring at them instead. It makes him happy though… small town schools aren’t the most accepting of an open bisexual. 

Within a few metres of him, he can hear some music that he feels he has heard before. Instead of looking for his own locker, or going to the office for a schedule. He decides to find out what he was hearing.  
As he walks down the halls, it starts to sink in just how different this school is to his old one. For one thing, it’s a lot bigger. He was already expecting that. What he wasn’t expecting was the variety of people. He can tell that the town has more than one clothing shop, unlike where he used to live. It’s comforting to know that he’s not the only extra bitch.  
He continues scanning the halls as his biggest dilemma finally crosses his mind. Friends. Brandon would have the confidence to be an absolute social butterfly if his mind wasn’t plagued with social anxieties living only to stunt his friendships and make him miserable. It’s really quite an inconvenience.  
After a few more steps down the main hall the source of the music is discovered. Morrissey’s familiar voice blares from an empty classroom. Perfect, people with the same music taste, he thinks to himself. Instead of looking for his locker or looking for the office so he could get his schedule. He decides to try find whoever is playing The Smiths. 

He can hear the music coming from inside a classroom. He pulls open the door to see a bunch of kids sitting together with the songs that he cherishes so much playing loudly off a phone. They’re all wearing lots of makeup despite all being guys, immediately Brandon knows they’re his kind of people. Some of the guys have their eyeliner running. Probably crying from the level of deepness that they’re feeling. Brandon also notices the age range of everyone in the group. There were a few juniors, seniors and maybe even sophomores in the group. Bonding over wearing black and crying to Smiths songs. Once again, Brandon’s kind of people. Unfortunately though, he had just abruptly intruded on them. Now they’re all staring at him and wondering, who the fuck is he? 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” one of the guys asks. Despite looking relatively like a senior, when he stands up Brandon can see he’s extremely short. His hair in the classic black emo haircut, his eyes looking extremely raccoon-like.  
“Uhhhhhh…….. I’m not sure... honestly, I just... heard The Smiths and I was intrigued.” Brandon stutters.  
“I haven’t seen you around before… are you like new or something?” the short emo asks Brandon.  
“Yes, i’m a transfer student.” Brandon says, “why do you sound so condescending?”  
“Because I get no good vibes from you! You disturbed our emotional listening session!” The short emo starts to yell at him.  
“Hey hey, calm down. I just wanted to see if I could join you guys, you all seem… coolish?” Brandon jumps back, worried about what that short angry emo could do to him. (even though he really shouldn’t feel threatened)  
“Hon, i’m Pete fucking Wentz, I don’t just let anyone into this sacred group.” He’s about to spit on Brandon before a guy with dark brown hair and clown makeup holds him back. One of the sophomores in the group.  
“Hey, Pete. Don’t be like that man, can’t you see we have an opportunity for more members. The more emos the better.” He says, stroking his back as an attempt to calm him down.  
“This guy… Brendon are you fucking serious? This guy looks like a poser, he’s wearing fucking glitter! No emo shall wear any glitter under my watch!.” Pete’s definitely not calming down no matter what Brendon tries to do to stop him.  
“Yeah, and i’m wearing clown makeup. Yet you still let me in.” Brendon still continues to attempt to soothe Pete.  
“Uhhh… My names Brandon, how is there a guy named Brendon in the same room as me?” Brandon mumbles and shrugs his shoulders.  
“Okay, now he’s really a poser! He’s a poser of you! A glittery fucking POSER” Pete’s regular yells suddenly turn into alarming screams.  
“Why would someone’s mom who probably doesn’t know that other person’s mom naming their kid a similar name to the other one be such a big deal to you Pete?” A chubby nerdy looking guy with strawberry blonde hair, black rimmed glasses and a trucker hat asks.  
“I DO NOT FUCKING KNOW PATRICK! IT JUST MATTERS TO ME, OKAY!” Pete then hisses at him.  
“Okay… okay… i’ll stay out of your way.” Patrick sinks back in his chair. The final warning bell for class ends up going. Everyone else who’s sitting down goes to stand up and find their own classes. Pete escapes from Brendon’s arms and then spits on Brandon’s foot.  
“Fuck you!” He scowls before stamping out of the room with his face now bright red.  
“What the hell is his problem?” Brandon asks Brendon.  
“I don’t know man, I’d just say he’s a bit of an emo purist. Honestly, it’s cool that we have similar names. I’m not mad at you dude.” Says Brendon.  
“Yeah thanks” Brandon says. As he’s about to leave the class, the other emo kids start swarming out before he can leave the room. Another small sophomore bumps into him, Brandon looks up to see that he’s wearing red eyeshadow all around his eyes and he had drawn little tree branches coming off his lower lid. His eyes are big and innocent as he looks up at Brandon’s glittery tears in awe.  
“Ummm… Hello… I like your makeup.... I don’t know why Pete thinks you’re a poser just because you’re being yourself.” The small kid stutters.  
“Oh, thanks kid. It’s cool that everyone else in this strange group seems kind of chill.” Says Brandon.  
“Yeah, it’s really just Pete who is weird…” The small sophomore says, “I’m Ryan!”  
“Brandon”  
“You don’t need to introduce yourself. We all heard everything.” says Ryan.  
“Oh… okay, well… I’m new and I have to find my class and locker so… I’ll see you around I guess.” Says Brandon. The way Ryan was staring at him was dare I say… pretty odd. 

Great start to the school year, am I right? Brandon being spat on by a pretentious Morrissey wannabe with hair that was cool ten years ago, being called a poser, and getting attacked simply because of his name? How bloody unlucky can you get? His high hopes for the school year were shattered and his hands were shaking. Fuck being social, he thinks. He needs to get his schedule from the office anyway.

While the rudeness of Pete did leave a bad taste in Brandon’s mouth for a second, he feels a lot warmer welcome to his new school when he ends up meeting Mr Armstrong in his office. Mr Armstrong gets the schedule from the receptionist, gives it to Brandon, and then gives him very vague instructions on where his first class was. His first class today is art, so he’s pretty happy that things were getting somewhat okay. 

All the information that Mr Armstrong gave Brandon that morning for directions don’t help him at all with getting to his class. All he told him was to go upstairs and find room B13. Which doesn’t help because there are just as many corridors upstairs as there are downstairs.  
“Goddammit, why did he have to be so vague?” Brandon mutters to himself. He paces down the many hallways looking for the B corridor that Mr Armstrong spoke of. But that just makes him get even more lost. Eventually, Brandon ends up giving up and standing alone in a hallway he swears he had already been in. He groans and stomps one foot on the ground, then leans against a locker. Another kid with black hair, red eyeshadow, tripp pants and a Misfits t-shirt turns around and gives him an odd look. (Because Brandon’s making no effort at all to not look like he’s pissed off.) The other kid shoves the books in his locker and then closes it.  
“Dude are you okay?” he asks.  
“No, I’m actually terrified right now! None of these corridors take me to B13!” says Brandon.  
“Oh… I was just going to B13, we’re in the same art class.” The other kid says.  
“Wow, that’s awesome. What a miracle am I right?” Brandon sighs with relief and wipes his forehead even though there’s no sweat there.  
“It really is a miracle!” says the other kid, “you must be new here, i’m Gerard”  
“I’m Brandon” they shake hands awkwardly.  
“Well Brandon, come this way. I’ll show you the one decent place in this hell hole.” Gerard wraps his arm around Brandon’s shoulder like a parent and starts parading him to class.  
“Thank you dude, why are you being super nice to me?” Brandon asks.  
“Because it’s human nature my dude.” says Gerard.  
“Then I guess Pete isn’t a human.” Brandon chuckles.  
“Pete?... You mean Pete Wentz? Yeah he’s a pretentious dick, I’d say it’s best if you don’t talk to him. Did you run into him already?” Gerard asks.  
“Yeah, I heard his group playing The Smiths and I really like their music. So I asked if maybe I could bond with them over it? But Pete called me a poser because I was wearing glitter and I have a similar name to one of his friends.” Brandon explains.  
“Brendon Urie?” Gerard asks.  
“Yep” says Brandon, “Brendon himself was chill though, as was everyone else in that group.”  
“Yeah, those kids are all pretty nice. I feel bad for them. They all kind of have to put up with Pete.” says Gerard.  
“I can imagine.” says Brandon.  
“Well, you’re not the only one who gets bullied around here either.” Gerard says pointing to himself.  
“You?” Brandon asks.  
“Yeah, it’s a very long story. But here is our class now, I’ll tell you everything because I could go on for ages.” Gerard explains.  
“I don’t know if I could though” says Brandon, “I’m kind of awkward and it’s hard for me to say more than one sentence to someone.”  
“Don’t worry, at least you’re a good listener.” says Gerard, “you’re kind of cute”  
“What?...” Brandon gasps, he already has a boyfriend back in his old town, and they’re still going strong despite the distance. People in this new place shouldn’t ALREADY be developing crushes on him.  
“No don’t worry… the look on your face Brandon! I could die of laughter right now, I didn’t mean that in a I want to kiss you way. I meant it in more of I want to pat you on the head way. Friends!” Gerard explains.  
“Oh… okay, I guess that’s fine with me then.” Gerard does indeed pat Brandon on the head softly before entering the classroom. 

As the two of them walk into the classroom, the art teacher turns his head to the two of them.  
“Mr Way, you’re late.” The teacher doesn’t seem as though he cares very much.  
Gerard rolls his eyes. “Dude, give me a fuckin break, I was doing the lord’s work showing the new guy around.”  
The art teacher shakes his head and returns to his lecture about the course plan for the year.  
“You guys can like… swear in front of teachers and shit?” Brandon asks in awe.  
“Yeah man. Too many kids for them to care I guess.” Gerard replies, shrugging.  
“So… what happened to you with that bully? Or whatever?... You were gonna tell me?” Brandon asks.  
“Okay so,” Gerard begins. “There was this fuckin guy, Jimmy Euringer? Yeah. Him and I were friends, and it started off fine but he turned out to be such a dick! All he did was make fun of me for talking to freshman and being ‘a prep’ and shit.” Gerard motioned speech marks with his hands. “He graduated at the end of last year though. Thank fuckin god.”  
“I’m sorry dude, he sounds like a dick.” Brandon attempts at sympathising.  
“You got that right, buddy!” Gerard enthuses.  
The class flies by while Brandon and Gerard talk countless utter shit about past friends and foes and before Brandon knows it, lunch period has dawned upon him. He prays to the heavens that he’ll be able to avoid the group of hot topic shoppers and emo supremacists.

Brandon and Gerard go to the cafeteria together, deciding to sit together in their “poser” solidarity.  
“Hey, should I buy your lunch?” Gerard asks Brandon.  
“Oh… I already have money. You don’t have to worry about me.” Brandon says.  
“No no no, I insist I pay for your lunch. It’s your first day after all.” Gerard pats him on the head again before getting in the queue, “You go find us a table.”  
“Okay…” Brandon says, feeling slightly unsure of how to find a table. Maybe it was an easier task than finding his classroom but nonetheless he decides to do it to keep Gerard from holding a load of food when he gets out of the queue. 

The empty table at the other end of the cafeteria is the only thing Brandon was focusing on, so it was just his luck when he accidentally bumped into someone.  
As that someone turns around to face Brandon, his heart rate speeds up. Pete looks offended, but his teeth quickly appear as his face curls into a smile and he pours half a bottle of the cafeteria’s iced coffee down the front of Brandon’s shirt.  
“Whoops.” He says, showing no sign of remorse.  
“Dude, what the fuck? You got it on my shoes! Those are limited edition Vans you DICK!” Brandon blurts before he can even try and stop himself.  
Pete steps back and climbs back onto the table to sit down.  
“Not my problem.” He remarks. “You bumped into me, it’s your fuckin fault… poser!”  
Brandon is shaking. All sense of impulse control has fled and nobody’s there to hold him back when he throws himself at Pete.  
“You son of a bitch!”  
Pete falls back onto the table in shock as Brandon continues to repeatedly slap him in the face.  
Everyone in the cafeteria turns around to watch this, some people are laughing and some have complete shock on their faces.  
Another one of the sophomores in Pete's crowd is grinning while filming the fight on his phone. Brandon notices but couldn’t give less of a shit.  
Pete manages to push Brandon off of him and sits up to start punching Brandon in the head with one hand on the collar of his shirt. Brandon is continuing to persevere  
He keeps trying to hold him down, locking his leg around his to stop him from standing up.  
The fight is put to a halt as a voice from across the cafeteria calls out “Wentz! Flowers! Break it up! To my office now!”  
It’s Mr Armstrong.  
Principal’s office on his first day, Brandon thinks, great fuckin start to the year.


	2. Chapter 2 - Hide the Glitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brandon Flowers deals with the aftermath of his fight with Pete the day before and creates quite a reputation for himself.

[ september first - 2017 - 9:03pm ]

 

“Hey! What’s up?” 

Ronnie finally picks up on Brandon’s skype call.

“You are not gonna fuckin BELIEVE what happened today.” 

Ronnie rolls his eyes jokingly. “First day and you’re already causing drama? That’s very on brand for you, isn’t it?”

Brandon shakes his head. “No you don’t understand. This new school? Wild!”

“Go ahead, spill.” Ronnie says, smiling at Brandon’s dramatic hand gestures.

“Okay so this kid, Pete Wentz, I think? Starts acting like a complete asshole and calling me a poser! So I leave because I wasn’t expecting drama on the first day, y’know, and then, uh, I go to lunch and I’m just trying to get to my table! And this dick comes outta nowhere and spills his coffee on me!”

“Oh god, you didn’t fuckin fight him did you?”

“Piss off, Ronnie, what else was I supposed to do? He fucked up my custom vans!”

‘You are so dramatic sometimes.” Ronnie rolled his eyes, “what happened after you fought him?” 

“Well…” Brandon breathed in and pushed his hair back, “that was sure interesting.”

  
  


_ “I just cannot believe it Flowers! It’s your first day of school and you’re nothing but trouble ALREADY!” Mr Armstrong ranted, “You seemed like such a nice kid when I met you earlier, I expected way more from you.” _

_ “I’m sorry Mr Armstrong.” was all Brandon could say back. Mr Armstrong didn’t even bother to ask him to look him in the eye saying it, all because Brandon was staring at his vans and lamenting about how the coffee that was spilled on them had ruined the galaxy print. Mr Armstrong then looks at Pete and suddenly his eyes narrow and the wrinkles on his forehead are accentuated.  _

_ “Oh Pete, Pete, Pete! What number of times have you been to the office for this exact reason now? Mr Armstrong said sarcastically, “i’ve lost count.”  _

_ “Uhhhhhh, i’d say it’s nearly forty times now Mr Armstrong.” Pete said with an arrogant grin on his face, no regrets about anything.  _

_ “That’s not anything to be proud of Wentz!” Mr Armstrong stood up abruptly and poked Pete in the chest angrily, “You little piece of shit.”  _

_ “Okay… now I see why lot’s of us get away with swearing in front of teachers.” Brandon mumbled to himself.  _

_ “No witty comments Flowers!” Mr Armstrong snapped back at him, “You guys are lucky that the term is beginning and I don’t want to suspend or expel either of you two. Especially not Flowers because after all he is new.”  _

_ “Can you please just call me Brandon?” _

_ “Not in this situation boy!” Mr Armstrong poked Brandon in the chest the same way he did with Pete.  _

_ “I’m calling your parents tonight and that’s it, but if you get into shit like this again Wentz and Flowers, you WILL be possibly getting suspended or expelled!” Mr Armstrong threatened them.  _

_ “Yes Mr Armstrong” both Pete and Brandon said in unison.  _

 

“Okay but why does your principal sound so chill? I spent the whole of high school filtering myself when there are fuckin lad principals who let you swear 24/7?” Ronnie says in awe.

Brandon shrugs. “Probably because he’s like, thirty, but he pretty much hates me now.”

“Your mom would’ve shat herself oh my god… how did you even handle that?”

“Ummm… she was quite terrifying, but I managed to escape from her so I could talk to you. Thank god!” Brandon says. 

 

_ “BRANDON! I got a call from the principal saying that you got into a fight today!” his mom was sitting in the living room, with only one light shining on her dramatically as she read the news. Brandon definitely did inherit being extra from her.  _

_ “It’s a long story, this guy was being a total dick to me! He spilled his coffee on my expensive shoes on purpose!” Brandon tried to explain.  _

_ “I don’t care about what he did! The fact that you were the one who started the fight and not him is the reason I’m mad at you. We moved into the city so that maybe… you could have a better reputation as a person who DOESN’T FRICKING THROW THEMSELVES ON OTHERS CAUSE OF A PETTY REASON!”  _

_ “Mom, I’m like this because you’re like this too.” Said Brandon.  _

_ “I KNOW BRANDON!” she yelled back, “I felt that maybe just for once you’d be able to control your temper.”  _

_ “Yeah…” Brandon said quietly, “I’m going to do some homework.”  _

_ “Already? Brandon, it’s the start of the semester. You can’t already have homework!” Brandon’s mom said, “are you sure you have homework or are you trying to get away from talking to me?”  _

_ “Nope… I have homework.” Brandon awkwardly shuffled up to his room, trying to sound believable and not “I say I have homework but I just want to talk to Ronnie”.   _

_ “Ughhhhh fine! But that doesn’t mean you can get away from talking to me and your father about this at dinner.”  _

_ “I know… I know…”  _

 

“So yeah, as far as first days go, not the greatest… but definitely not boring! How’s college treating you?”

Ronnie rolls his eyes and sighs. “It’s like high school but with even less will to attend class.”

“So not great?”

“It’s a pain in the ass, Brandon!” 

The pair go silent and sigh awkwardly.

“I already miss your stupid dramas.” Ronnie says sadly.

“And I miss your failed attempts at preventing my stupid dramas.” Brandon replies. “I should really be doing ‘homework’ right now. My mom could walk in any minute now.”

“Yeah, you should really get onto that…”

Brandon frowns. “Why do all of our conversations have to end so suddenly? We never get to talk properly anymore.”

“Because college and distance are homophobes, Brandon.” Ronnie says sarcastically, “I love you, you edgy little son of a bitch.” 

“I love you too you sarcastic son of a bitch.” Brandon says back before putting his hand on the screen as if he’s trying to reach out for Ronnie’s hand. 

“Hopefully we can have a proper conversation again soon.” Brandon says longingly. 

“I hope so, more importantly i’d like to see you in person again. I miss hugging you.” 

“Ronnie, your humour is so vulgar I thought you were going to say you missed fucking me or something.” Brandon laughed. 

“Well… that too, but you’re soft, my life is hard and all I want to do is hug you right now.”

“You’re the best.” 

“You’re the worst though! You keep making me worried with all this drama, I think you’ll have to try laying off it this year.” Ronnie says. 

“I’ll try my best, but it won’t be easy because the school has all eyes on me now.” Brandon says. 

“Well, at least you’re gonna try. Goodbye”

“Goodbye.” 

The webcam glitched briefly and suddenly Ronnie had disappeared, Brandon immediately went to his real “homework” as he thought he could hear his mother coming upstairs.  

 

[ september 2 - 2017 - day 2 at armstrong high ]

 

Brandon decided to take a darker look for school today. Rather than his strange galaxy prince thing he had going on yesterday. It would be better for him today as well, because maybe Pete wouldn’t ridicule him for his glitter makeup. It wasn’t that he wanted to look like Pete, he just wanted to not draw attention to him. He circled his eyes messily in black eyeliner, ruffled his hair and decided to wear a black bomber jacket, some ripped jeans and a rusty red shirt. It was just safer to hide the glitter. However, his efforts to not look ridiculous to him worked to no avail as he walked into the main hallway. 

 

As the doors pushed open, a small group of girls chatting by the locker recognised Brandon immediately and turned their backs to talk about him. Brandon anxiously scanned his eyes around the room to make sure that he didn’t end up running into Pete. 

He couldn’t believe that he’d already broken the promise he made with himself upon moving schools, ‘I won’t start any drama’ my ass, he thought. He ignored all the stares he was getting from everyone and went to go to his locker. Luckily, finding it wasn’t as stressful as it was the day before. He strolled up to it trying to look casual and opened the door getting out the books for everything that was on his schedule. He was distracted by two guys kissing a couple of lockers away from him, the same two guys that he saw on the first day. He still wonders why people are staring at him and not them. He’s so caught up in staring at the couple that he gets surprised when he feels a soft tap on his shoulder. He turns around abruptly to see Gerard standing behind him with a friendly expression on his face. 

“Wow, I gave a fright didn’t I?” Gerard chuckles. 

“I probably wouldn’t have jumped if I wasn’t distracted.” Brandon says. 

“Yeah…. Haha, what were you distracted by?” Gerard asks. 

“Oh… just those two guys kissing by that locker. It’s relatively interesting to me considering my old school was very homophobic.” Brandon explains. 

“That’s a shame, it’s good you’re here now… unless you’re also one of those homophobes.” Gerard looks at Brandon with a look of faux suspicion on his face. 

“No no, i’m not a homophobe at all. I’m bisexual! I meant that i’m happy to see open gays here.” Brandon defends himself. 

“Oh don’t worry, I was just teasing you. Welcome to gay heaven Brandon, love from your fellow gay.” Gerard curtsied jokingly. 

“Well thank you Gerard.” Brandon bows back at him and laughs a little bit at how silly he is. 

“By the way, those guys over there. That’s Gabe and William, they’ve been dating for years and they always make out. Like… everywhere! We’re all pretty much used to it by now.”  

“Okay… i’ll keep that in mind.” Brandon says. He notices that half the hallway are staring at him again, he looks back at them with a salty expression to get them to stop but he then realises that the people are not staring at him. Instead he looks in the direction that they are looking in straight down the hallway and notices a squad of cheerleaders marching together. 

 

The cheerleaders all went into a pyramid formation and the girl on top, a small skinny girl with two-toned orange and pink hair jumped and flipped off the top of the pyramid and landed perfectly on her feet. The whole school made a “woah” noise as all the cheerleader climbed down from the stack. Suddenly the girl from the top started making a chant that startled the other students just as much as it startled Brandon. 

“1-2-3-4, fucking men makes me snore! 5-6-7-8, I am really fucking gay!” The small cheerleader then finished off her little routine with another backflip. The other students clapped for her as she blew kisses at the crowd. 

“Thank you! Thank you!” She replied to everyone’s happy screams, “I didn’t just do that chant for nothing. Our first meeting of the LGBT club for the semester begins next Monday. I really hope that you all can join us. Anyway, thanks have a nice day. Have some free badges!” Another cheerleader passed over a box of the said badges, the head cheerleader grabbed them in bulk out of the box and threw them everywhere as people scrambled all over the room to try and grab them. Gerard and Brandon perfectly caught two each in their hands. Brandon’s badges had the phrases “ _ looking forward to 20gayteen _ ” and “ _ I’m a bisexuwhale _ ” (with a little cartoon drawing of a whale in pink, blue and purple on it) Classic phrases that you would hear straight out of tumblr. 

 

“Well… that sure is interesting.” Brandon says, “What did you get Gerard?” 

“Mine sure do resonate with me.” He held out both his pins for Brandon to see. One said  _ “Goth culture is also gay culture.”  _ and “ _ Are you a synthpop gay or an emo gay? (yes you can pick both)”  _

“Mine are kind of cheesy and weird.” Brandon showed both of his to Gerard. 

“Nah, yours are cute.” Gerard says. 

“Yours are quite cool though.” Brandon says. 

“You want to trade?” Gerard asks. 

“Sure!” says Brandon. 

“I’ll give you the synthpop or emo gay one cause i’m more of a post punk gay, but they didn’t make that an option.” Gerard passes it to Brandon.

“For the record, i’m a synthpop gay.” Brandon says. 

“Also, i’ll take your 20gayteen badge because it’s iconic and while the whale badge is cute, i’m not bi so…” 

“Yep!” they both say. 

 

The orange haired cheerleader passes both the boys, Brandon decides to catch her attention. 

“Hey! That was a cool performance you did just now.” He says waving out to her, the girl turns around. Her pigtails swooping dramatically in his direction. 

“Thank you, that’s really sweet.” She says. 

“Also, just an FYI. Men are beautiful and I love smashing them, but go off I guess.” Gerard states. 

‘I agree with him, but girls are also lovely.” Brandon says. 

“I respect that your gaynesses!” the girl giggles a little bit, “i’m all for solidarity.” 

“I’m Brandon.” he introduces himself, reaching out to shake the girl’s hand. 

‘I’m Hayley, nice to meet you. Also, everyone pretty much knows who you are. We all saw what happened with you and Pete Wentz in the cafeteria yesterday. Honestly, it was entertaining to watch even if Mr Armstrong did tell you both off afterwards.” 

“Oh yeah… right.” Brandon stammers, remembering yesterday. The whole fuss in the hallway had made him nearly forget about the drama with Pete. 

The bell rings, and the whole school groans over having to leave to class after quite an exciting morning. 

 

“What class do we have first Hayley?” Gerard asks as all three of them are walking together. 

“We have english first dummy! How do you still not remember we’re in the same class?” Hayley fake bitch slaps Gerard, “what about you Brandon?” 

“Uhhhh…” he grabs his schedule out of jacket and takes a look, “I also have english.” 

“Is it the same room?” Hayley asks. She grabs the schedule and looks for the class code, “D7, yep that’s our class too! This is going to be fun, i’m ready to hear all this tea about what went down with you and Pete.” 

“Yeah…” Brandon stammers again. 

“That’s quite a long and strange story to tell.” says Gerard. 

“Let me guess,” Hayley folds her arms. “He was a dick for no reason?”

“Spot on.” Brandon confirms.

With a dramatic sigh, Hayley turns around to head to English. “You guys coming?” She asks.

 

Every teacher at this school seems to be another clone that mindlessly blabbered about their chosen topic, and Brandon, Gerard, and Hayley’s English teacher is no exception. She stands at the front of the class, flailing her arms while screeching about ‘linking to the theme’, whatever that means. 

The three seat themselves near the back of the class, Hayley gets out her laptop and assumes Tumblr browsing position, Gerard opens his sketchbook (why does he draw in every class but art?), and Brandon rests his chin on his hands and stares aimlessly into the distance. Of course, just Brandon’s luck, he’s accidentally staring at someone. 

It’s Pete he’s staring at. Fuck. There really isn’t any escaping this emo douchebag. Pete screws up his nose at Brandon, quickly checks to make sure the teacher isn’t paying attention, then gives Brandon the finger, mouthing ‘fuck you’.

Brandon glares back for a second, then turns to Gerard and Hayley. 

“Do you homos have any idea what Miss is on about?” He asks the pair of them. 

Gerard shakes his head.

“Something about linking to the theme?” Hayley attempts at answering his question.

“I don’t even know what the fucking theme is!” Gerard exclaims, coincidentally at the exact moment the class goes silent. Some students laugh, but more give him dirty looks.

“Language, Gerard.” The teacher says quickly before returning to her ramble about character traits and language features.

Hayley goes silent for a second, taking a second to try and understand what the teacher is on about and maybe get some notes, but quickly shakes her head and turns back to the boys.

“Do you lads ever go to the Roller Rink on a Friday night?” She asks.

Brandon shrugs. “I didn’t even know there was a roller rink here.” 

“I went there drunk once and threw up on the shoes I hired and had to pay for them.” Gerard responds.

“Oh that’s wild, Gerard. I was just wondering if you guys wanted to come skating with me because most of the cheer squad bailed. I think they’re all just annoying straighties scared of getting hit on by girls.” Hayley says, rolling her eyes.

“I’d love to Hayley, but I doubt my mom would like the idea of having to pick me up late.” Brandon answers disappointedly.

Gerard pats Brendon on the head. “Dude, just stay over at mine afterwards, it’ll be super chill.”

“Y’know what, that’s a cool idea. Can I stay over too? Your parents are super calm, right?” Hayley asks.

“Yeah, they think I’m a fuckin’ incel so they let anyone stay over.” Gerard says while shrugging his shoulders. 

“Sweet, I guess that’s sorted then. Shall we meet Friday after school?” Hayley asks. 

“Sure thing, i’ll tell my mom after school.” Brandon says. Gerard and Hayley both put their hands on top of his. 

“What are you doing?” Brandon asks. 

“We’re basically our own little group now!” Gerard says, “art gays!” 

“I’m not in your art class though.” Hayley says, “but I like art so I guess I am kind of an art gay.”  

“See Hayley that’s the point.” Gerard says, “art gays!” 

“Art gays!” Brandon repeats. All three of them throw their hands up in the air, Brandon looks to the side and catches Pete scoffing at him and rolling his eyes. 

“Annoying Tumblr freaks.” Pete whispers in Brandon’s direction just loud enough for him to hear it. 

“Shut up!” Brandon whispers back before turning back to Hayley and Gerard again. 

“What was that?” Hayley asks. 

“Oh nothing, Pete was just being a little bit weird.” Brandon says. 

“Eh whatever, lets just ignore him.” Hayley says. The bell for the first break goes, it seems that the fun conversation that the three were having had made the time in an otherwise tedious english class go by really fast. 

 

[  morning break | 11:15 am | Cafeteria  ]

 

Luckily as Brandon was walking to his table (this time with Hayley for company), Pete didn’t bother to pour any of his coffee, or any of the things on his plate for that matter on Brandon’s shoes or clothing. Nonetheless it was still good that Brandon was taking precautions today with his relatively plain and not so special clothing. However Brandon was still interrupted as he was walking to the table by another person that wasn’t Pete instead it was another one of his little sophomore minions. A kid with long dark brown hair, a chubby face and red messy eye makeup making his rather pale skin stand out. Brandon recognised him as the kid that he saw filming the fight between him and Pete the day before. He approached him by tapping him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Brandon Flowers! What a name” the kid says. 

“What do you want?” Brandon asks, worrying that he’s sounding a little too harsh. 

“Don’t worry, i’m not here for hostile intentions. I’m Spencer Smith, reporter for the morning announcements here.” The kid replies in a friendly voice. 

“Aren’t the morning announcements supposed to be… for practical school related things?” Brandon asks.

“Well, partially they are. But Mr Armstrong lets us students working in the department do a small section to put a spotlight on the social dramas and news in this strange teenage hierarchy.” Spencer explains, “he likes it because he finds teenage drama funny.”

“Oh… interesting” Brandon says. 

“Currently i’m needing two private interviews with you and Pete so that all the tea about that fight and what caused it will be going down on the announcements tomorrow.” Spencer continues. 

“Uh… okay? This won’t be made purely to embarrass either me or Pete will it?” Brandon asks. 

“Oh no, of course not. This is supposed to be purely unbiased news so these interviews will not be made for the purpose of humiliation.” Spencer says, “So… are you up for it? We’ll be needing you at lunchtime.” 

“Okay… you seem like a neutral party here. Maybe I can trust you.” Brandon says uncertainly. 

 

[ lunchtime | 1:45 pm | the news room ] 

 

Brandon was given directions to the Newsroom on paper by Spencer at the end of morning break. He followed the directions which he found surprisingly easier than Mr Armstrong’s instructions on how and where to find his first class yesterday. He was lead to a dark room inside a booth with a glass window. There were two stools inside the room and a pair of fancy looking microphones, Spencer was sitting on one of the stools holding a notebook. 

“Hey Brandon! Come and sit down on this other stool here.” Spencer waves his hand out, gesturing for him to come into the room. Brandon went in and sat on the stool. 

“So… what’s the plan with this?” Brandon asks. 

“With these types of interviews, I just ask you some questions about the situation and you spill the tea.” 

“Oh… okay” Brandon says. 

“Alright, then I guess we’re pretty much ready.” Spencer says. He gestures towards a girl and a guy behind the glass working with the switchboards and the camera. 

“Lynz, turn the microphones on! Jon, turn on the camera!” Spencer gesticulated his arms out to both of them as they got the technology ready. 

 

“Hello students of Armstrong High, Spencer Smith here reporting for the Armstrong Gossip. Only just yesterday have we gotten big news of drama. Which therefore ensures that this year will sure be an interesting one. In the cafeteria at lunchtime yesterday, Armstrong High newcomer Brandon Flowers got into a fight with Armstrong’s notorious troublemaker Pete Wentz, luckily some person… aka none other than Moi managed to capture some footage of the incident. Here you may see it playing on screen right now.” Spencer reports, “Mr Armstrong has luckily talked to both of them so that maybe we won’t get to this level of extreme again, but nonetheless things sure are still interesting. Today Brandon and Pete have both given me permission to interview them about what went down from an insider’s perspective, as most of you probably haven’t heard the whole story.” 

Spencer flipped a page in his notebook to Brandon’s questions. 

“So, Flowers. Tell me, who do you think really initiated the fight when it started?” Spencer asks. 

“I’d say it was definitely Pete. While I was the one who made things physical, really everything was all his fault!” Brandon starts explaining. 

“Wow really… Can you tell me why you think Pete started it?” Spencer asks. 

“He ruined my shoes on purpose by spilling his coffee on them. He got what he deserved.” Brandon started to raise his voice. 

“I see that… you sure take pride in your fashion.” Spencer says, “Is that the only reason that you and Pete fought though? Were there any other things that had happened prior to this?” 

“Well Spencer, there indeed was. I believe you were also witnessing it too. You see, Pete was one of the first people I met this morning on my first day. He made me feel really unwelcome!” Brandon lowers his voice and clenches his fist, “I just walk into a classroom he happens to be in with his little group, because I heard him playing music that I liked in there. I thought… hey! Maybe I could make some friends, but no… he’s a petty elitist who gets mad at people simply because they like to wear glitter on their faces! We can’t all fit your very niche emo criteria Pete!” 

“My goodness, you are new here after all. Do you say that your impression of the school has changed since you met Pete?” Spencer asks. 

“Luckily it has despite my rude awakening. I have indeed met some really sweet people here, Pete should take notes from all of them so that he can learn to be a decent and functional human being.” Brandon raises his voice again. 

“Well Brandon, that is quite a roast right there.” Spencer says. 

“It had to be done Spencer.” Brandon turns to look at the camera and points at it aggressively as is he’s gesturing towards Pete. 

“Those vans were one hundred and ten dollars you son of a bitch.” 

“Oh easy there Brandon! My goodness!” Spencer says, the camera moves away from Brandon so that only Spencer is in the shot. 

“Well students there you have it, your inside gossip of the morning. This year is sure going to be a wild ride. Stay tuned for more Armstrong Gossip, now back to our regular morning announcements and remember… prom is coming up this winter semester. Be prepared to ask out your date, and don’t pull a Pete Wentz and spill your coffee on people’s shoes to fight for the love of your life. I’m Spencer Smith and that’s the tea.”  

 

After the interview was over, school flew by quite quickly. Brandon’s last class was science, a class that he didn’t hate but at the same time didn’t really care about. He tried his best not to look at the time too much and just focus on writing down element names in his textbook. Which for him, did make the time go faster. After school he was told to wait for Gerard and Hayley at Gerard’s locker, which was easy for him to find as they had both been meeting there a lot throughout the day. 

 

[ after school |  8:00pm | the roller rink ] 

 

“Don’t throw up on your shoes again Gerard!” Hayley scolds him sarcastically as she puts her things in the locker that she brought for all three of them tonight. 

“Hey! I’m not drunk tonight so it’s all good.” He replies. Brandon is behind both of them wearing his roller skates, holding onto the railing behind him trying not to slip. 

“I’ve never been to a roller rink before...” Brandon says, “How do you guys manage to balance?” 

Hayley rolls her eyes as she watches Brandon trying to balance without the railing, he teeters on his own two feet for a few seconds before clumsily collapsing onto the shiny polished floor. 

“We might have to hire one of those balance thingies for you.” Hayley laughs. 

“No! I’ve seen those, they look like those wheel cart things that old ladies use to carry their shopping.” Brandon complains. 

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to spend more money. I’ll hold onto him until he gets the hang of everything.” Gerard says. 

“Thanks man.” 

“No problem buddy.” 

Hayley finishes tying her skates into perfect bows. 

“Okay, are we ready to go now?” She asks. 

“Yep, I think so.” Gerard says. He links his arm with Brandon’s and pats him on the head  the way he did on the first day. 

 

Hayley is already flying out onto the rink like a dove. She dances around it smoothly and effortlessly in the special light-up skates that she paid extra money for. Twirling and spinning around to the beat of the music playing in the background. 

“How does she do that? And then there’s me who’s basically Bambi taking his first steps?” Brandon asks Gerard as they prance around the rink at a relatively slow rate. 

“She’s a cheerleader, she can do some of the most terrifying stunts in the universe so this is basically easy peasy to her.” 

“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Brandon says. 

“I swear to god, did these people who work with the music change the playlist or something? It used to be lots of 80s, 90s and 2000s music. Now they’re playing a shit ton of dubstep and hold on… is that fucking Lil Xan playing right now?... I’m throwing shade at this DJ, you can’t dance to this shit, where the fuck is Evacuate The Dancefloor and No Scrubs for fucks sake… and Sk8ter Boi? That shit gets me turnt every time!” Gerard starts ranting. 

“Yep, i’ll have to agree with you on this! I’m gonna join you in throwing this shade.” Brandon says. 

‘YEAH!” 

“YEAHHHHHH!” Both Gerard and Brandon keep repeatedly yelling “yeah!” at each-other until Hayley rushes by telling them to shut up because her vibes are getting ruined. 

“You wanna go get something sugary or something? There’s really not much I can do here.” Brandon asks. 

“Yeah I agree, there’s only so much you can do in a roller rink.” Gerard says, his voice now hoarse from yelling too much shade. They slowly rolled out, trying not to trip or run into anyone else. 

 

As they had a couple of rounds of Coca Cola, they kept themselves busy just talking about well… anything and letting Hayley do her thing in the rink and occasionally cheering if she did something impressive. Eventually Hayley got tired too and joined in with the boys, ordering a Fanta and taking small blissful sips. Hayley later decided she didn’t want to go back out on the rink so her, Gerard and Brandon all agreed to go home. Gerard got his phone out his pocket and called his mother. As all three waited outside, they all sat on the stairs waiting impatiently to leave so that they could collapse on the bed/floor any minute. 

 

[ september 6 | 1:06am | the golf course ]

 

On the golf course behind Pete’s mom’s house, in the furthest corner that the floodlights don’t reach, Pete, Ryan, Brendon, Patrick, and Spencer gather.

Ryan leans against the skeletal tree that Pete’s already sitting in and passes a joint of Brendon’s leftover weed onto him. 

“So, fuckers,” Pete says smiling after taking a puff. “How’s this week treated ya?”

Brendon and Spencer groan in unison, Patrick shrugs, and Ryan scrunches up his face. 

“I’ll take that as an ‘okay’?”

Stepping back to face Pete, Ryan folds his arms. “It’s been one week and you’ve already started so much unnecessary drama. What’s your problem dude?”

“The new kid’s a weirdo, a poser, and an arrogant asshole.” Pete replies, counting on his fingers.

“Would it kill you to just be nice until you get to know the person?” 

“I don’t know, Ry, there’s just something about his smug fuckin’ face that just… pisses me off.”

“What’s wrong with his face? He’s actually pretty cute if you ask me.”

Brendon steps in between the pair. “Don’t tell me you have a crush on him, Ry! You’re way outta his league. He’s pretty goddamn ugly.”

Patrick and Spencer roll their eyes at the three drama queens of the group starting yet another argument.

“So what if I’m a little into him? You guys can’t tell me what to do, I’m a sophomore, not your son.” Ryan says, going a little red.

“Wait, you actually like him? Fuck, Ryan, don’t do that to yourself!” Brendon exclaims, finishing off the blunt which had made its way back to his hand and then putting it out on the sleeve of his denim jacket.

“Calm yourself, Bren, it’s not like he likes me back anyway.” Ryan retorts.

“Now that, my dear,” Pete pushes himself back into the conversation. “Is utter bullshit! You’re Ryan fuckin’ Ross. Give it a week and he’ll be in love with you.”

Ryan leans back against the tree. “Not if you continue being a dick to him he won’t.”

“Fine.” Pete folds his arms. “Let’s call it a truce. While you seduce Brandon, I’ll leave him alone.”

“Peter are you fucking kidding me?” Brandon exclaims, outraged. “Didn’t he literally just punch you in the face this Monday?”

“That was half my fault I guess, but Ryan, be quick with your seducing, I don’t know how long I can be nice to the guy for. Let’s say you have… uh… until prom.”

“Uh… okay.” Ryan says. 

“Remember that prom isn’t far either, so you will have to work fast. The clock is ticking Ryan, I’ll even be counting the days down on the morning announcements.” Spencer says. 

“Right got it!” Ryan says, taking a gulp nervously. He looks over to Brendon who rolls his eyes and gives him a bitter look.

 

[ the sleepover | 12:00am | gerard’s house ] 

 

The PM hours of the sleepover have come and gone and before Gerard, Hayley, and Brandon know it, they’ve run out of fresh memes to pass around and laugh at. Hayley sits hunched over on Gerard’s swivel chair, Brandon is cross legged on the mattress on the floor, and Gerard is lying on his bed, sipping from a plastic coffee cup and scrolling on his laptop. Across the floor at least 5 empty bourbon and cola cans had been scattered, along with a half empty bag of Doritos and multiple plastic ziplock bags with leftover sugar from the sour candy the three had already eaten.

“I feel like a can of Monster.” Hayley says, looking longingly out of Gerard’s bedroom window, towards the convenience store down the street.

“That’s funny,” Brandon says, giggling. “You don’t look like a can of Monster.”

“Oh my fucking god.” Gerard groans, half covering a laugh.

“Sorry, I get weird at night.”

“We’ve noticed.” Hayley tells Brandon.

“We could go out and get something to drink if you guys like?” Gerard suggests.

“Your parents would let us?” Brandon’s eyes widen.

“Of course they wouldn’t, they aren’t stupid.”

A look of disappointment grows on both Brandon and Hayley’s faces.

“That’s why we go out the window.” Gerard finishes, with a wink.

Hayley bounces in her seat and Brandon smiles. Tonight was finally starting to get interesting.

Getting Gerard’s bedroom window open without making a noise was a struggle. Brandon began to grow worried that Gerard’s parents are going to wake up and phone his. He hadn’t told his mom that Hayley would be here too, and he didn’t think she’d be too happy discovering he had spent the night with a girl without telling her.

Eventually, but taking longer than it should have, the three managed to clamber out of Gerard’s bedroom window without making too much noise and consequently waking Gerard’s parents. Hayley seemed eager to get to the convenience store and stock up on sugary energy drinks, but before she had the chance to sprint off down the street, Gerard had a better plan.

“If we cross the golf course, there’s a 24 hour McDonalds a few blocks away. Is this a plan that would appeal to you guys?”

The pair nodded excitedly. Brandon had never really snuck out at night before, so this was an experience and a half for him wherever they went.

Hayley shone her phone torch ahead of them as they cross the golf course and Gerard took shitty videos of the three of them for his spam Instagram.

Once they had climbed the fence of the golf course and made it onto the footpath of some backroad Brandon didn’t recognise, the city started to seem busy and slightly dodgy compared to his old town. Every shadowy figure they passed gave him suspicious looks and he wasn’t vibing with it. For a minute, he tried to focus on his friends, but his fears of getting mugged were overwhelming. 

“Can I played some music?” Gerard asks. 

“No. Of course you fucking can’t. How could you even ask that? It’s a crime.” Hayley replies sarcastically, earning a giggle from Brandon and an elbow to the ribs from Gerard. 

“Fuck you, now you get to put up with the All Star 10 Hour Loop. Hope you’re happy, Hayley.”

Hayley jumps up to smack Gerard over the head.

As the three wandered down the middle of the empty backroads, they started singing along to Gerard’s playlist like middle aged men on Saint Patrick’s Day.

“How is it that we’ve only had one or two cans of bourbon and cola and we’re acting this fuckin’ tipsy?” Hayley asks, but the two boys are laughing so hysterically at themselves that they can barely respond.

“Shit man, in my old town, if someone heard teenagers singing outside their house at midnight, they’d call the cops!” Brandon exclaims.

Soon enough, the three had made their way down the main street and to the entrance of the 24 hour McDonalds. Gerard ordered three Cokes and three medium fries. A perfect midnight snack.

As Brandon and Hayley sat down at the nearest table and Gerard leaned against the wall to keep an eye on the order numbers, a bald man wearing a Trump hat walked in. Great. Of course they were going to be stared down by a redneck for the rest of the night. Just their luck. The man glared at them from across the room. 

Brandon looked from Gerard to Hayley, then back to the redneck. The three of them weren’t exactly heterosexual and conservative looking. No wonder a man who wants to “make American great again” would be giving them the death stare. 

“Lads, uh, that would be our number on that there screen.” Gerard whispers to the pair, gesturing to the screen at the front of the restaurant displaying order numbers.

Brandon shook his head. “There’s no way in hell I’m going past that guy over there.” 

“Well I’m not fuckin doing it!” Gerard argues, slightly louder. The two boys turn their heads to look at Hayley.

“You two really are pussies, aren’t you.” 

She stood up and walked towards the counter, followed by the gaze of the Trump Hat Man. Was it her dyed hair? Her pink shirt with “girls” written in block letters? Her fishnet tights? Who knows. Maybe it was a combination of everything. 

Brandon saw Hayley’s eyes widen as she grabbed the takeaway bag and glanced towards the man. As she returned to sit with the boys, she was visibly shaking. 

“He has a fucking gun. In his pocket. A fucking gun.”

Gerard looked shocked and Brandon gasped slightly.

“Oh fuck this, we’re getting out of here.” Gerard exclaims, grabbing the takeaway bag and speed walking towards the door with Hayley and Brandon following close behind.

After that experience, the three became incredibly jumpy. By the time they reached the golf course fence, they had collectively freaked out over three street signs, five trees, two houses, and four shadows. Brandon wasn’t sure how to feel about crossing a dark golf course after all of that. 

“Don’t you think we could just go around the outside of the course?” He asks.

Gerard shook his head. “Nope. It’ll take hours. We can turn our torches on though, dude.”

Brandon sighed. Hopefully they would walk quickly so he wouldn’t have time to panic. Once the three were half way across the golf course, Brandon saw something giving off a dull glow out of the corner of his eye. He squinted at it to try and make out what it was.

Gerard seemed to have noticed as well. “The fuck is that?”

Hayley shrugged. “Probably just stoners.” She says, shining her phone light towards the unidentified object.

“Shit, man.” Gerard mutters, squinting. “I think that’s like, Pete’s group.”

At the sound of his own name, Pete jerked his head around to look at the three of them. Almost exactly on cue, Gerard, Hayley, and Brandon set off sprinting to the other end of the golf course, not stopping until they reached Gerard’s back yard. 

Once they had caught their breath and confirmed with each other that they were all okay, the three burst into hysterics.

“Fuck!” Gerard exclaims. “Tonight was wild!”

“That redneck! I thought he was gonna shoot us!” 

“You guys should’ve, like, made out or something, that would’ve pissed him off so much.” Hayley says, giggling.

“You’re a fuckin genius, Hayley! How didn’t I think of that?” 

“It’s because you’re a bad gay, Gerard, SMH.”

Brandon giggled. “Hayley did you just say “SMH” out loud and not even shake your head?”

“Got a problem with that, punk?” She says, holding out her fists and jumping up and down as if she’s trying to fight him.

“Besides, Gerard and I couldn’t have done that gay shit, because that would kinda be cheating.”

Hayley and Gerard looked at him, confused.

“Oh shit, yeah, I forgot to tell you guys, I have a boyfriend.” He says.

“Damn. That’s gay.” Hayley replies. “Nice.” 

 

It took a few hours, but eventually the three teens all fell asleep in strange positions on Gerard’s bed covered with empty packets of junk food, the computer they were watching meme videos on and some of the stuffed animals that Gerard didn’t want the other two to know about. (But Hayley found them shoved behind his pillows anyway.) They had fallen asleep talking about nothing but Brandon and Ronnie’s relationship now that Gerard and Hayley knew about it. It took them awhile, but eventually the rushes they got from their junk food had worn off and all three of them passed out for approximately seven hours. 

 

[ september 7 | 7:00am | gerard’s room ] 

 

Brandon ended up waking up long before Gerard and Hayley did. He would’ve slept longer if it weren’t for the alarm for his phone going off in his pocket, the alarm that he was supposed to have turned off for the weekend. He groaned and turned over, pulling the phone lazily. Nearly dropping it off the side of the bed. Eventually when he’s alert enough to have decent grip, he pulled his phone to his face and shut off the alarm before he could get to the breaking point of actually throwing the phone. He saw he’d also obtained a couple of notifications, including a rare text from Ronnie, which surprised him because even on the weekends Ronnie found it hard to keep in touch. Even when there weren’t classes for him, there was a whole workload waiting for him. Curious to see what Ronnie was saying, Brandon swiped open his phone. Immediately after seeing the message and reading it twice, he stared at his phone and blushed. 

“Hi edgelord! I love and miss you so much, it turns out next weekend I have nothing to do for the first time in ages and I don’t want to be bored. So i’m thinking of coming to see you, are you free for that?” 

Brandon couldn’t help but squeal a little bit before writing his response. 

“I think I’m free, I’ll double check though. I’m already excited!” 

Knowing that Ronnie sent the text late last night, rather than waiting for his response, Brandon turned off his phone and laid back onto the head of the bed smiling like an idiot. Hopefully Hayley and Gerard would wake up soon so that he could express his excitement to them. Although things with Pete weren’t entirely solved yet, Brandon was just too overcome with excitement to think of anything related to the drama involving his new school. Things were finally looking up… or were they? 


	3. Chapter 3 - Blackmail and Boy Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brandon witnesses the most eventful pep rally he will ever see. Potential for new relationships are formed and Pete is pressuring Brandon into dating Ryan with potentially horrible consequences if he says no. Brandon's guilt affects his first date with Ronnie since he has moved and... what the hell is Spencer doing here?

Chapter 3 - Blackmail and Boy Problems 

[ september 7 | 10:00am | the pep rally ] 

Brandon DID NOT want to go to the pep rally at all! He couldn’t care less about any dumb sport this school had to offer. Nonetheless he went with Gerard anyway to go support Hayley, who was going to be cheering on the team with a little routine in which she had a big part in directing. Brandon was rather tired because of the fact that the pep rally actually started rather early in the morning, it hadn’t exactly started yet because it was actually a few minutes before the actual rally and everyone was still getting their food and settling down. Brandon and Gerard didn’t really talk much sitting together as they were both equally on the same level of being tired, reluctant and miserable. The half-awake Brandon suddenly jolted fully awake when the sound of a really loud tuba interrupted his daydreams. He looked onto the field to see the school marching band prancing onto the field with the tuba player leading them. Right at the back were all the percussionists and then the first of the cheerleaders. Marching evenly in a line lead by Hayley and another girl with dark brown hair and a rather distinctive nose. After the cheerleaders, the school mascot followed. A kid dressed in a very dark and fuzzy moth suit. Brandon looked at the mascot in surprise thinking ‘wow, this school really is unique. This is the first time I haven’t seen a mammal, a bird or a racist caricature as a mascot.’ The moth has a rather determined look on its’ face. It jumped around the field, circling around the cheerleaders and the marching band as if it was trying to look like it was flying. Finally after the moth had stopped showing off, Mr Armstrong stepped out onto the field alongside the players for the football team, they all waved at the various members of the crowd and the football players blew kisses at the ladies in the crowd wanting attention from them. Finally, everyone who came onto the field lined up in a row as Mr Armstrong stood on a pedestal and tested out the microphone in front of him. 

“Hello there… students and parents who were able to attend this pep rally today. I know it’s early and you all probably didn’t want to get up, but I’m happy you could make it anyway. I myself needed to drink a dozen coffees to motivate myself to come up here too.” Mr Armstrong introduces himself. The whole crowd laughs a little bit at his statement.  
“However, what we are here for today is to show some good school spirit. Especially in light of our big game coming up against the Mccracken High Badgers!”  
A few hardcore Moths fans around Brandon started booing whoever these Badgers were and yelling various words of abuse in regards to them. Amongst the people yelling was Pete, standing right behind Brandon a couple rows back. Brendon, Ryan and Spencer were all standing alongside him too. Brandon accidentally makes eye contact with Pete, making him smirk back at him menacingly and then giving him a death stare. Brandon also looks at Ryan, Ryan’s eyes widen and his cheeks turn a light shade of pink while he makes a cute little smile back at Brandon. Before either of them attempt to say a word to him, Brandon turns back and focuses on Mr Armstrong’s pre game speech. However, right when he turns back around his speech is over and the cheerleaders are about to do their routine. He definitely doesn’t look back at all as he must be supporting Hayley. 

Hayley and the girls do another pyramid stunt, except it’s not really a pyramid because there’s not one person on top. It’s two! Hayley and the dark brown haired girl who was standing at the front of the line with her. The two girls join both hands together before jumping up into the air, causing the tower of cheerleaders to fall in a perfect domino effect with all of them landing safely on the ground. Hayley and the brown haired girl also land safely before all the girls line up perfectly and go into a chant.  
“Who do we love?” The girls chant.  
“We love the moths!” everyone except Brandon chants back.  
“Who’s going to win?” The cheerleaders chant again.  
“The moths!” Everyone chants back again, this time Brandon joins in.  
“Does daylight stop them from ever winning?”  
“No!”  
“Will any bright light they ever bump into ever burn them?”  
“No!”  
“Who do we love?”  
“We love the moths!”  
“Who’s going to win?”  
“The moths!”  
Hayley and the cheerleaders step back as two drummers from the marching band walk in. A rather skinny acne ridden boy playing the tom, and a tan girl with brown and blonde streaked hair playing a snare start playing a drum roll. At the same time, Lynz, the girl that Brandon remembered as either the camera or sound person for Spencer’s show walked in with a camera to film the whole thing. The brown haired cheerleader that Hayley was doing her performance with nudges her on the arm and whispers her something. Hayley laughs and whispers back words of encouragement before both girls run out in front of the drummers. Hayley goes for Lynz at the camera. Kissing her right on the forehead, and the brown haired cheerleader goes for the snare drum girl, kissing her on the cheek. The whole crowd whistles, claps and cheers in appreciation as the two newly kissed girls both blush while looking at each-other in confusion and happy surprise. Brandon also cheers and claps, wondering if Hayley and that other girl will ever develop true relationships with Lynz and snare drum girl. Gerard elbows Brandon to get his attention.  
“Man, this is the most exciting pep rally for anything i’ve ever been to.” Gerard says.  
“I know!” Brandon says back.  
“Sports normally give off extreme toxic heterosexual vibes for me, so i’ll have to give props to Hayley and that other cheerleader for showing that sports can be gay too.” Gerard stands on top of his chair before yelling “GO GIRLS!”  
Brandon looks up at him and smiles, and then looks down on Hayley and the brunette cheerleader, Hayley spots him in the crowd and waves. 

Shortly after the game ends, Brandon and Gerard decide to meet Hayley outside the changing rooms.  
“Hayley! That was amazing you did so good you queen!” Gerard goes straight in for the hug and squeezes her tightly.  
“Gerard! I’m happy that you loved it, but I think i’m literally about to choke and die right now.” Hayley strains her voice.  
“Oh, sorry.” Gerard says letting go. Hayley takes a deep breath.  
“So… what was your favourite part of the performance?” Hayley asks.  
“I think my favourite part would have to be when you and the other girl kissed Lynz and the snare drum girl.” Brandon tries to explain.  
“Yes, I indeed agree. It sounds like one of those fake tumblr stories… but it’s real! Everyone really did clap!” Gerard says.  
“Oh yeah, that wasn’t even supposed to happen. Like, at all! Ashlee just pointed out to me that it was the perfect moment, cause we’re both kinda into those girls and we thought it would be cool to make a move. Just to test the waters to see if there’s a possibility of going to prom with them.” Hayley says. Laughing and blushing.  
“Well, I sure think it worked. They were both blushing after it happened.” Brandon says.  
“Yeah… indeed” Hayley says. Lynz suddenly walks over to the small group holding a white slip of paper.  
“Here.” she passes it over to Hayley, before going extremely red through her pale gothic makeup and running away.  
“Huh?” Hayley asks, “come back!”  
She takes a look at what’s on the paper and squeals a little bit.  
“Guys! Look!” she says simultaneously shoving the paper in Gerard and Brandon’s faces.  
“Oh my god!” Gerard says.  
Brandon takes the note in his hands, it says “uhhhhhh… thanks for that Hayley! I’ve always kind of had some sort of thing for you I guess but I wasn’t expecting this to happen at all! I don’t really like talking to people all that much outside of school simply because i’m sort of scared to do that. But… i’ll make an exception for you. Here’s my number xoxo. <3 202 555 0118”  
“You sure did that!” Brandon says, “Well done for getting her number!”  
“I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen with flirting either, it’s a first!” Hayley says. Immediately after Hayley rereads the note for the third time, Ashlee rushes in after her screaming at the top of her lungs.  
“Girl, what happened?” Hayley asks.  
“The mysterious drum girl told me to sit with her at lunch next week!” Ashlee yells before pulling Hayley into a hug and crying tears of joy, “I was so scared that she was going to be straight.”  
“Wow… I’m so proud! Oh my goodness! Did she tell you her name?” Hayley asks.  
“Yes! Oh my god! Her name is Cass and I swear to god i’m so in love with her, I think that this is basically a marriage proposal. She’s gonna put me on the spot and marry me tomorrow I can feel it-” Hayley puts her finger to Ashlee’s lips before she can say anything else.  
“Ashlee sweetie, I know you’re the biggest lesbian stereotype I know, but you don’t need to be this extra.” Hayley says.  
“But Hayley…”  
“Girl hush! This is why you scare away all your female suitors. Come with me and we’ll talk this out before you possibly screw everything up.” Hayley says, “sorry guys. I’ll need to stop Ashlee from using the worst of her disaster lesbian traits around this new girl. I’ll maybe see you next week.”  
“Goodbye Hayley.” Gerard and Brandon both say. Hayley walks away casually as Ashlee gesticulates everywhere, talking about every single detail of the conversation she’s had with this “Cass”. Brandon suddenly feels a tap on his shoulder, he turns around to see a familiar short but menacing looking emo standing behind him, glaring with his raccoon lined eyes.  
“Well, well, well… Brandon Flowers we can finally talk at last.” Pete says.  
“What are you doing here?” Brandon asks. Both Brendon and Spencer appear from behind Pete and fold their arms.  
“We need to talk about something really important.” He says. 

Brendon, Spencer and Pete circle around both Brandon and Gerard and look around to make sure there’s no one who can potentially snitch on them.  
“So Brandon… last night. We obtained some rather interesting information from… a friend of ours.” Pete says.  
“Who are you talking about?” Brandon asks.  
“Who do you notice in this group that isn’t here right now?” Pete asks.  
“Uhhh… I don’t know… Patrick?”  
“No! Try again sweatie!”  
“Did he just say sweatie… in this economy?” Gerard whispers at Brandon.  
“Shut up art gay! This isn’t your conversation.” Pete lashes out at Gerard, “Brandon, who do you notice that isn’t here?”  
“Uhhh… ummm... “ Suddenly Brandon remembers Ryan staring at him earlier in the game and notices he isn’t here in this moment, “it’s Ryan!”  
“Well done Flowers! I’m surprised it took you this long to answer.” Pete says, “You see… last week when you intruded on MY golf course! Ryan told me that… he has the hots for you.”  
Gerard gasps and Brandon gulps nervously.  
“He told me when we were hanging out there that he thinks you’re kind of cute, and I can’t restrict my good friend from dating whoever he loves.” Pete says, “so i’ve decided to start a truce with you… and that truce will go on forever if you say yes to going to prom with him. However, if you take your sweet time or refuse… your clock is ticking and i’ll do the most unspeakable things to you that you could ever imagine.” Pete slowly walks up to Brandon and pushes him up against the wall behind him.  
“Yeah… like what?” Brandon asks.  
“Uhm Pete, not to make you sound less threatening or anything-” Spencer says.  
“Not that you were really that threatening to begin with.” Brendon says.  
“SHUT UP BRENDON! Anyway, we have no tea on Brandon. If we are going to expose him if he refuses Ryan, what are we going to do? We have nothing to humiliate him with.” Spencer explains. Pete walks away from Brandon and walks up to Spencer.  
“I hate to say it… but you’re right.” Pete says, “we have nothing on you, at least for now. But hear my warning! If you refuse Ryan or leave it until the last minute, me, Spencer and Brendon will be digging up some dirt on you! Say goodbye to your reputation you poser! You have until prom” Pete laughs and Spencer and Brendon laugh back with him on queue. They walk away from Gerard and Brandon with a huge amount of sashay in their walk. 

“Man… this is bad! This is really really bad!” Gerard says to Brandon, “you have a boyfriend! You guys really love each-other! And Ryan… he’s only a sophomore, he can’t be going after you and thinking he’s going to win. Pete is really out here trying to commit illegal activity between you two, and you’re really fucked either way because he’s blackmailing you now.”  
“Yeah I know, even if I tell him that I have a boyfriend i’m screwed. I don’t know what to do! And i’m supposed to be seeing him next weekend as well, what if he runs into him and tries to do something horrible to him?” Brandon starts panting heavily with nerves and frustration as Gerard strokes his back to try and calm him down.  
“Hey hey! It's gonna be okay, take some nice deep breaths.” Gerard says. Brandon does what he says, right after calming down Gerard pats him on the head like he's always been doing. Brandon finds it rather comforting.  
“We’ll find some way to figure this all out, if Pete does try to do something. We can just tell Mr Armstrong, I think that he definitely will care about this situation. Besides, we don't really have to be scared of Pete blackmailing us even more because our boy Billie can deliver hella punishments.” Gerard says.  
“Yeah, I guess you're right.” Brandon says.  
“Now come on… let's take your mind off it. Let's go find Hayley and Ashlee and see if we can go somewhere with them.” Gerard says. 

The next week flew by at lightspeed. School seemed so much less of a burden to Brandon without Pete bothering him and giving him dirty looks across the room in every class they had together. Gerard and Hayley had gone skating again on Friday, but Brandon had been forced to stay home due to homework. As he is tediously working his way through what feels like the same math question for the tenth time, his mother opens the door to his room.  
“Hey Brandon, i’m just leaving to go and do the late shift tonight. I’ll be home by five in the morning tomorrow.” Brandon’s mother was obviously tired, he had known she was taking a nap earlier so she would be able to be at least a little bit alert for work.  
“Sure thing, that sounds good.” Brandon says.  
“Keep doing what you’re doing with the homework right there… and no sneaking out! I swear to god, if I find out from anyone that you’ve decided to go to the roller rink. You’re in hot water.” Brandon’s mother says.  
“Don’t worry mom, I won’t do any of that.” He replies. His mother gives him a small hug and a kiss on the cheek before waving him goodbye.  
“Goodbye mom.” Brandon says before he gets stuck back into his homework. Little did his mother know that he had plans that didn’t involve leaving the house at all. 

About a few hours later, Brandon had finally finished his math homework. He slumped back into his bed and decided to check his phone. Recently, he had just gotten instagram again after deleting it last year because he felt he didn’t need it. However, as Gerard and Hayley were avid instagram users and also data and credit eaters, (which made it hard for Brandon to text them normally) he decided to get instagram again as a means of communicating with them, and also keeping up with Pete and his gang to make sure they weren’t posting anything slanderous about them. Over instagram, he also ended up having proper conversations with Ryan, Brendon and all of Pete’s other cronies. He found that they were actually quite nice when they weren’t working with Pete. Especially Ryan probably because of his little crush. Brandon decided not to bring it up to Ryan yet until when the days were getting closer to prom. He didn’t want to upset his seemingly innocent heart, or worse… turn him to the dark side. Brendon and Ryan did have their personal instagrams, there were lots of pictures of them together on there. Brandon thought that there was a lot of chemistry together and that maybe they would be a cute couple. But he wouldn’t try and set them up so soon. The two boys also ran a Blink 182 fan account together, Brandon wasn’t all too fascinated with the band but through the account, he learned that Ryan, Brendon and Spencer had a band together. Alongside another kid named Jon who went to a different school in the same area. As he was getting stuck into the many petty rants about certain students that Spencer was posting in twitter threads on his feed, Brandon heard a knock at the front door. He went downstairs and looked inside the peephole to see an oh so friendly familiar face standing on the doorstep with a bouquet of roses. Ronnie had arrived! With excitement, he swung out the door and before they were even able to say hello to each-other, they both squealed and hugged each-other tightly, not ever wanting to let go. Wanting to savour the moment of them both holding each-other for the first time in months.  
“I missed you so much.” Brandon says with tears of joy, completely muffled into Ronnie’s chest.  
“I missed you too you big edgelord.” Ronnie says. Running his hand through Brandon’s hair comfortingly. For a moment, the two reluctantly let go.  
“These are for you, I know that roses are cheap and cliche as fuck. They’re just something to remind you of me when I leave again… I guess.” Ronnie says, passing Brandon the bouquet.  
“Thank you, that’s really sweet.” Brandon says, “let’s not even think about you leaving again for a second. Come inside and just… relax with me while we catch up.”  
“I’d love that.” Ronnie says. They both walk in, the door closes behind them before Brandon goes to put the roses in a vase. 

“So… how has it been going with this drama? With that Pete kid?” Ronnie asks as him and Brandon are lying together on the couch. Brandon lying on top of Ronnie like he’s a big pillow.  
“Things are still quite weird right now, but I’m trying to stay away from starting more drama. It’s more stuff that he’s doing now.” Brandon says.  
“I see, that kind of sucks. I can’t believe he’d treat you like that on the first day and just make all these assumptions.” Ronnie says, “I mean… it sure took me some time to stop assuming you were like all the other douchey football players back at our old school. But y’know, I definitely did learn something from that experience and I couldn’t be more happier to have you here right now.”  
“I love you.” Brandon says.  
“I love you too, words can’t describe how much i’ve been waiting for this moment.” Ronnie says.  
“What moment?” Brandon asks.  
“This!” Ronnie leans over and kisses Brandon on the forehead. Brandon shuffles over and turns around so that he’s looking right up at Ronnie, his eyes are now wide and his smile is the biggest he’s ever had it in weeks.  
“You’re adorable when you look at me like that.” Ronnie says.  
“Stop! I’m still not used to getting called cute… but I guess I like the feeling I’m getting from it. Now… even though it’s weird.” Brandon says.  
“Once again Brandon, it’s called love!” Ronnie kisses him on the forehead again before Brandon nuzzles into his chest. 

“When are we going to eat out?” Ronnie asks.  
“Definitely not tonight.” Brandon says.  
“Why not?”  
“Mom told me that if someone caught me sneaking out anywhere, I’d be dead. And you know that she doesn’t know that you’re in town so both of us would be in trouble.” Brandon explains.  
“I understand that, but damn Brandon. You’re still such a mommas boy. I guess that’s why I find you sweet though.” Ronnie flirts.  
“Shut up!” Brandon says jokingly before leaning into Ronnie again.  
“So… tomorrow?” Ronnie asks.  
“Yeah, mom won’t care that I’m leaving the house tomorrow. She’ll just think i’m seeing my new friends or something.” Brandon says, “By the way, I should try get you to meet them at some point. I think you would love them.”  
“Well, they’re your friends so of course I would love them. But not as much as I love you.”  
“Ronnie, I get it! We haven’t seen each-other in months but you don’t have to tell me you love me every five seconds.”  
“But it helps me savour the moment more y’know.”  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Brandon says.  
“Can I sleep over here tonight?” Ronnie asks.  
“I’d love that, but mom comes home at five in the morning.”  
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll just set an alarm so I can sneak out the window. Then you can leave and meet me again at whatever time that suits us.”  
“You’re still such a bad boy at heart.”  
“You bet I am!” Ronnie says, “besides. It’s not like we’re going to… do anything adult. I don’t think your mother should be too worried about me.”  
“Nah, you know what mom is like. She’ll freak either way knowing you’re here.”  
“Yeah, true. Do you want to show me your new room? I’d like to see all your old shit that you used to show me back in the day.”  
“It wasn’t that long ago Ronnie.”  
“I know, but it still feels that way.’  
“You are so dramatic.”  
“This is coming from you!”  
“Shut up!”  
“No, you shut up!”  
Brandon aggressively kisses Ronnie right on the lips before both of them go upstairs. 

[ september 14th ]

 

Brandon sat on the edge of his bed, trying to squeeze the motivation out of him to get dressed. It had been a close call that morning when his mom had arrived home and Ronnie was in the kitchen making a coffee.  
Watching Ronnie scramble up the stairs and throw himself out the window with a cry of “YEET” had been the highlight of Brandon’s otherwise uneventful morning so far. Now that his mom was sitting in the living room he couldn’t watch vine compilations on the TV, meaning he was stuck doing nothing in his room until he “went out with friends” (he couldn’t let his mom know he was meeting Ronnie or she’d have thrown a fit).  
After the almost-disaster with Ronnie sneaking out the window, Brandon’s morning started to flow relatively smoothly. He tagged Ronnie in a couple wholesome memes, got dressed and avoided the urge to go Full Extra Bitch, and snatched a can of Coke from the fridge.  
Brandon was strangely nervous about hanging out with Ronnie properly. He knew he had no reason to be, he literally saw the guy last night for God’s sake! But still, his hands shook just like they would seeing Ronnie every day in music class last year.  
Just as Brandon was about to step out the door, he heard his mom call out from the living room.  
“Are you going now?” She asks.  
“Yeah, Mom, I’m meeting the lads at 1:30.”  
“And who exactly are you meeting again?”  
Brandon went red. “Uh, Gerard, Hayley, just some kids from school.” He wasn’t a fan of lying to his mom.  
“Okay, be back by 5. Keep in touch!”  
“Of course I will.’  
“Take a coat! Just in case!” She adds as Brandon heads back towards the door.  
“Yes, Mom! Bye!”  
“See you at 5!”  
Brandon blew a kiss and closed the door behind him.  
Halfway to the end of his block, Brandon shot Ronnie a text message,  
“Hey where u @?”  
To which Ronnie responded with a Google Maps screenshot of a local motel.  
Brandon had no idea how maps worked but he was willing to give it a go so he could see Ronnie.He followed the directions that had been given as he walked. Luckily the motel wasn’t all that far away as Brandon thought it would be. It in fact was in a place that he had already driven past before, so the motel wasn’t all that strange to him either. He just never knew anyone who had been in it. 

After waiting a few minutes, Brandon texted Ronnie again as he still wasn’t out yet.  
“Hey, i’m at the motel. Where are you?”  
Within a minute, Ronnie responded.  
“I’m coming out right now, sorry if you’ve been waiting for ages. <3”  
Ronnie’s promise was definitely fulfilled soon after Brandon received the text. He came out wearing the suit that he had worn to the prom they had first gone to the year they got together.  
“Hey, how was the rest of your morning?” Brandon asks.  
“Eh, the motel bed was bad as all motel beds are. I just wanted to climb back in with you, you’re so warm and nice.” Ronnie says.  
“Stop, that sounds super wrong.” Brandon says.  
“Everything I say according to you always has to sound remotely wrong.” Ronnie says.  
“That’s cause you love your innuendos and sometimes I can’t tell at all whether you’re making one or not at this point.” Brandon snarks back at him.  
“Oh shut up, you know you love them.” Ronnie says as he lets out a giggle.  
“Yeah, I guess it’s one of the things i’ve missed so much about you.” Brandon says, pulling Ronnie into a hug.  
“Shall we go to this restaurant that you’ve been telling me about all week?” Ronnie asks.  
“Yeah, I guess we should go.” Brandon says.  
They both walk away from the cheap motel together, Ronnie’s arm around Brandon’s waist  
.  
[ the restaurant ] 

“Well you weren’t wrong about this restaurant being good.” Ronnie says rather unenthusiastically as he tucks into his meal.  
“You sound like you’re disappointed.” Brandon says.  
“I’m not disappointed, this food is genuinely nice. It’s just that when i’m around good food, I find it hard to concentrate on everything else and therefore I sound uninterested in everything else.” Ronnie explains.  
“That’s a big mood.” Brandon says.  
“It really is.” Ronnie replies.  
Brandon settles back into eating his own food, he takes a bite and then looks out the window him and Ronnie are sitting in front of. Suddenly, walking down the street, he sees Spencer. Completely unaccompanied! No one from Pete’s gang, and no family of his own either. Just Spencer all alone. Suddenly Spencer’s head turns around to look into the window of the restaurant and locks eye contact with Brandon. He then looks over to Ronnie, who doesn’t notice he’s there. But Brandon is noticing that he’s looking at him and now he’s getting all nervous again. The next thing he knows Spencer’s mouth is gaping wide open with shock. Before he runs away and hides behind a wall close by so that Brandon and him aren’t looking at each-other anymore.  
“Brandon, are you okay? Why were you staring out the window?” Ronnie asks. Brandon shakes a little bit and turns back to Ronnie.  
“Oh nothing… just kind of doing what you were doing. Eating and finding it hard to concentrate because of it cause the food was good.” Brandon lies to try and not worry Ronnie about his dramas with others. Especially on what should be a happy carefree day like this.  
“Oh… right…” Ronnie says, “Well… I need to go to the bathroom.”  
He awkwardly shuffles out of his seat and leaves the table. Spencer peeks away from the wall outside and decides to take this as his cue to confront Brandon. 

Spencer busts open the restaurant door, the bell to show he’s coming in rings alarmingly. The usher at the door stops him for a second.  
“Uh… Hello sir, how many people do you want a table-” Spencer interrupts him.  
“I’m sitting with that guy over there!” He says pointing at Brandon.  
“Right, right!” The usher says, he gets an extra chair and moves it over to Brandon and Ronnie’s table. With a malicious look on his face, he sits right next to Brandon.  
“Spencer, what the hell are you doing here?-” Brandon asks before he also gets interrupted.  
“I’m pretty sure you know why I’m here!” Spencer says.  
“What?... i’m literally just out here living my best life, you don’t need to come after me just for merely existing.” Brandon says, trying to sound confused.  
“Exactly… you are living your best life… WITH HIM!”  
“With who? I’m here alone.”  
“That guy you were sitting with… Flowers do you have a BOYFRIEND?”.  
“Spencer, did you smoke a little too much weed for a sophomore last night? Pete seems like a bad influence on you!” Brandon tries to change the subject.  
“HE IS NOT BRANDON! And don’t you dare try to make this about Pete to change the subject, this has nothing to do with Pete. I saw you eating with a guy, and I want to know if he’s your boyfriend or not.” Spencer grabs Brandon by the collar of his shirt and shakes him angrily.  
“Okay okay fine… stop shaking me like that! That guy over there, he is my boyfriend! We’ve been together for ages, even before I started attending Armstrong. I would’ve told Pete this if he didn’t insist on blackmailing me over this whole Ryan thing!” Brandon explains.  
“Oh… oh… oh… this is really really bad! I feel so bad for you Brandon.” Spencer says.  
“Actually I question that a lot, cause one second you’re ganging up on me with Pete and Brendon and now you’re sympathising with me?”  
“That’s because I do it for the news Brandon… THE NEWS!” Spencer says, “You’re supposed to not be biased to one side of an issue.”  
“You sure take that to a bit of an extreme” Brandon says.  
“Once again Brandon STOP TRYING TO CHANGE THE FUCKING SUBJECT!” Spencer almost yells as loud as Pete, “The point is… if you do have a boyfriend… maybe I should try to help you, in fact I do want to help you cause me knowing Pete. Even if he does know you have a boyfriend, he will still insist on moving forward with this Ryan plan because he likes humiliating everyone he hates like that. And that is just straight up wrong. Even if I can maybe be neutral on Pete hating you for no reason, he’s gonna cross the lines of my own morals by trying to do that.”  
“What’s your point Spencer… GET TO THE POINT!” Brandon too, was also starting to get fed up.  
“The point is… I DON’T KNOW BRANDON! I DON’T KNOW! I WANT TO MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY BUT I CAN’T… I JUST WANT TO SPILL TEA AND LIVE MY BEST LIFE AND PETE IS JUST MAKING EVERYTHING HARD WITH ALL THIS STUPID DRAMA! I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO GET ALONG AND BE PALS! BUT NO… JUST UGH! I CAN’T DO ANYTHING TO HELP YOU CAUSE THAT’LL PISS OFF PETE AND MAKE HIM NOT WANT TO BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE, AND I CAN’T LET PETE DO THIS BECAUSE THEN YOUR LIFE WILL BE RUINED! UGHHH I HATE BEING A NEUTRAL PARTY, HOLD ME BRANDON I’M SAD AND CONFUSED!” Spencer started crying hysterically, he threw himself into Brandon’s arms as he involuntarily stroked his back to try and comfort him. This felt odd to him, suddenly he saw Ronnie coming out of the bathroom. He pushed Spencer out of his arms quickly.  
“What?...” Spencer chokes up on his own tears.  
“Don’t take this personally… my boyfriend is just coming back to eat and I don’t want him getting worried with all this drama now. I’ll see you later at school to continue talking about this. I promise that I do genuinely care-”  
“Brandon, who’s this?” Ronnie asks. Spencer wipes away his tears before turning around to face him.  
“Oh…Ronnie, this is Spencer. He goes to school with me and we’re pretty well acquainted. He just happened to run into me coincidentally.” Brandon says.  
“Hello… don’t mind me, just wanted to say a quick hello.” Spencer sniffles.  
“Are you okay kid?” Ronnie asks.  
“I’m fine… I just have a cold. I’ll see you later Brandon… enjoy your date.” Spencer toddles out the door.  
“What was that all about?” Ronnie asks.  
“Trust me, it’s nothing. He just really wanted to say hi.”  
“Fair enough.” 

[ the park ] 

“Are you feeling okay right now Brandon? You've been kind of tense ever since that kid came into the restaurant.” Ronnie asks, he wraps his arm around his shoulder as they walk through the empty park together. Brandon loved this park quite a lot, it wasn't like other parks where it was basically the stomping ground for gross stoner kids and their speakers which would blast repetitive trap music. This was a scenic park, made for pretty afternoon walks. Gorgeous bushes of various types of flowers, a small river with a little wooden bridge that arched over it, cherry blossom trees everywhere. And this was just the one corner of the park that Brandon and Ronnie were in. There was way more to explore! 

“I promise that I'm okay.” Brandon says.  
“Are you sure… the kid looked upset and you looked anxious.” Ronnie says.  
“I'm serious Ronnie I don't want to make you worried, let's just forget about it!” Brandon pushes him a little bit.  
“Ah! You are worried about something and you're trying to hide it from me.” Ronnie had seen it all before, from the many dramas Brandon had endured when they went to the same school Ronnie had watched him exhibit this exact same behaviour. Brandon had been trying to change it but old habits die hard. 

“What are you hiding Brandon…? You know you can tell me anything.” Ronnie says.  
“I know! I know!... I didn't want this to ruin our date and possibly make things awkward between us, but fine. I'll tell you…” Brandon finally gives in.  
“I've got a bad feeling about this…” Ronnie says.  
“This Pete guy I was telling you about. He's been blackmailing me.” Brandon confesses.  
“He's been WHAT?” Ronnie raises his voice.  
“Basically, he has this friend called Ryan who is a sophomore, and apparently according to Pete he has a crush on me. Pete says that if I go to prom with him then he’ll stop bothering me like he was a few days ago. But if I refuse even if I already have a partner, he’ll look for something that will ruin my reputation.” Brandon explains.  
“Is Ryan that kid who was in the restaurant a few minutes ago?” Ronnie asks.  
“No, his name is Spencer I wasn't lying about his name. He's one of Ryan’s friends and he is the only one out of Pete’s group to know that we’re together.” Brandon says.  
“Pete doesn't know about us?” Ronnie asks.  
“No he doesn't!” Brandon says making a gesture to look like he's zipping his lips shut.  
“Since Spencer is Pete’s friend is he going to tell Pete?” Ronnie asks.  
“No, he's trying to be somewhat neutral in this situation” Brandon says.  
“Ah, I see.” Ronnie says. 

They both remain silent for a little bit, they go to a bench underneath a large willow tree.  
“Why don't you tell me these things earlier Brandon? You know that I could sort things out with this Pete guy.” Ronnie says. Putting his fists together.  
“He's a very malicious person, I wouldn't want you getting blackmailed too if he finds out about us.” Brandon says.  
“But what is going to happen if Ryan tries to ask you out, he's a kid and you don't want to hurt his feelings and get in trouble with Pete. But if you say yes then you won't have a good time at prom cause you'll be guilty the whole time.” Ronnie says, “we have to deal with Pete in some way or another.”  
“I don't know Ronnie… one thing I do know is… whenever we go through situations like this… everything always works out in the end, things always get better. Trust me, I can figure something out and we can be happy.” Brandon tries to reassure him, “everything always gets better. If we were able to be happy back at our old school, we can be happy here too even if you live miles away.”  
“I love your optimism Brandon. It's one of my favourite things about you.” Ronnie says, his arm slips around his shoulder and Brandon leans into him. He looks up locking eyes with him with that puppy-like look on his face.  
“Stop being so adorable! You're basically asking to get kissed right this second.” Ronnie groans sarcastically and looks away jokingly.  
“I'm not cute!” Brandon huffs.  
“Shut up! Of course you are!” Ronnie leans in and kisses him on the forehead and then briefly on the lips. Brandon returns it passionately, things all seem to be going good until a loud gasp is heard from behind the willow tree. Both of them look away to see Spencer is standing there, his face completely pale with shock.  
“SPENCER WHAT THE HELL!” Brandon yells, “WHY DID YOU FOLLOW US HERE?”  
“Uhhhh….” he mumbles nervously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ello lads! Sorry this took a while to update, me and Imogen have been rather busy with school but we've both been able to pull through and bring you guys this. I hope y'all like it cause the tea is hot in here right now. We have so many more plans for this AU as well beyond this story, stay tuned for that! 
> 
> Love you guys!!! 
> 
> Edie xoxo


	4. Chapter 4: Can I Have This Dance?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos ensues between both the groups when all Brandon does is say yes to Ryan (and he DESERVES SO MUCH FUCKING BETTER OMFG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wassup we have returned after literally over a year and we finished this chapter in person to make things even more fucking epic! We have so many fucking ideas for the next few chapters and we'll be working super hard on them. Stay tuned for some snazzy shit. 
> 
> (Also don't mind our sneaky queen cameos halfway through the story... We kinda started stanning them in the time between the last chapter and now and it's actually wild.)

Chapter Four: Can I Have This Dance? 

****

[ the park ] 

****

“Okay! Fine, I just wanted to see if you were talking about anything interesting.” Spencer explains. 

“Spencer, that is just downright weird. You got all your answers about me and Ronnie, you should've just left after then!” Brandon exclaims, flailing his arms frustratedly.

“Why are you here now?” Ronnie asks. 

“I just forgot to tell Brandon something at the restaurant that maybe would make him feel better about the whole Ryan situation.” Spencer says. 

“And that is…?” Brandon asks. 

“Just… if he does ask you out. Remember that Pete for now has no dirt on you and he can't do anything to hurt you if you say no to Ryan. Make the best use you can of that time.” Spencer explains. 

“But… you see… I don't want to hurt Ryan’s feelings! The kid is really sweet and-” Brandon gets cut off again by Spencer. 

“Don't worry about Ryan’s feelings… honestly, as long as you're not harsh on him and Pete has no dirt on you, don't worry!” Spencer says, “I'll be the one who makes sure he's okay.” 

“Okay… I don't know how reliable that might be, and it's questionable about whether I trust you or not… but sure.” Brandon says. 

“Sweet… that's all I needed to say. I'm sorry I fucked up your date. Later Brandon, and… uhh… nice meeting you Ronnie!” 

****

Spencer scampers away as fast as he possibly can, making the once romantic environment between Brandon and Ronnie seem more awkward. Instead, the two continued to walk together and they had a kiss on the small oriental bridge and later one on Brandon’s doorstep as they said goodbye to each-other. For the day, and then they'd yet again spend another few minutes with each-other in the park before Ronnie had to take the long drive back to college again. 

****

“Promise me you won't be a pushover and say yes to Ryan.” Ronnie says, “I know what you're like Brandon, I feel like it's something you'd do.” 

“Once again, I truly promise I won't.” Brandon says. Ronnie climbs into the car and fastens his seatbelt and makes sure everything he brought with him was in the back. 

“I sure hope so!” Ronnie says. 

“I can't believe you're leaving already.” Brandon says, “this weekend has gone by so fast.” 

“I know… someday though, we’ll be able to spend every single day together again!” Ronnie says. He puts his hand out, gesturing for Brandon to come in the car with him, “come and give me a goodbye kiss.” 

Brandon leans into the small car and kisses Ronnie on the cheek. 

“I'm gonna miss you.” Brandon says. 

“Me too… a lot!” Says Ronnie. 

****

Before Ronnie drives away, they utter their final “I love yous” and “goodbyes” to each-other. As he pulls away from the curb of the park, Brandon waves and Ronnie does a small heart sign with his hands before accelerating away. Brandon stands and watches the car get smaller and smaller until it disappears around a single corner. 

****

[ ryan’s house | the basement | 11:00pm ] 

****

Meanwhile, little does Brandon know that Ryan planned on asking him out the following day. He proposes his plan to Brendon who he is currently having a slumber party with (although they don't call it that because “no homo”)

“So… I'm going to get to school extra early tomorrow!” Ryan says. Throwing his arms around excitedly. He has a whiteboard out, detailing his every step on how he’ll ask out Brandon. 

“Mhmm…” Brendon nods back in approval. 

“I know where Brandon’s locker is so… I'll wait close by until he arrives!” Ryan says. 

“Mhmm” Brendon mumbles and nods again. 

“When he does come, I'll walk very suavely up to his locker.” Ryan says. 

“Mhmm…” Brendon says again. This is when he starts sounding more unsure of Ryan though. 

“And I'll be all like… hey! So… I was wondering if you have a date for the prom yet?” Ryan says. 

“Mhmm…” Brendon says yet again. This time he's feeling nervous.

“And then well… if he says no! Which I'm betting he won't, I'll ask him if he wants to go with me. Finally… the decision is his I guess haha!” 

All Brendon can do is gulp and nod in approval again. 

****

That's all Brendon thinks he can express without sounding like a dick. He feels bad for Ryan cause he knows that this might not work out. In fact… considering their age gap, it DEFINITELY won't work out. Every other time Ryan has made a plan to ask someone out, it's ended in tears. Ever since elementary when Ryan asked out Alex Deleon, his first guy crush. Brendon has been there to scoop up his tears with every uttering of the word “no” that Ryan has ever heard, and because Ryan is a really sensitive person, that's a lot of tears. For some reason though… there's something about Ryan asking out Brandon that's making Brendon feel extra iffy. Of course Brendon had always felt something negative whenever Ryan planned a grand romantic gesture, but he always believed it was simply just him looking out for his best friend and nothing more, but this time there's something more intense that Brendon feels about this. He sure feels something about Ryan’s own feelings… but if you tried to tell him it was jealousy, you'd probably get a response that both Brendon and Ryan sacredly share between each-other. “No homo”. 

****

“So… how do you feel about the plan this time Brendon? I think maybe this time… it will definitely work!” Ryan says, “you won't have to console me in the bathroom this time!” Brendon really wants to intervene, but instead all he can do is nod his head and say. “Sure, you do that man! I hope that it works out.” In the most enthusiastic voice that he can manage. 

“Awesome!” Ryan says. He goes up to Brendon with a bounce in his walk and hugs him. 

“You're one of the best friends I could ever ask for!” Ryan says. When Brendon hears the word friend, he feels the hairs on his arm stand in a tingling sensation. If you told him this was jealousy, he'd probably still deny it. 

****

[ armstrong high | 7:20am | september 16th ] 

****

The very next day is a whole new week of school. The day starts as it normally does for Brandon. He arrives at his locker and waits for about ten minutes for Gerard to arrive so they can catch up. Brandon is very excited to tell Gerard about everything that had happened on the weekend. From him getting to see Ronnie again to Spencer's ~weird~ behaviour at the restaurant and in the park. Gerard arrives at school in a cropped The Cure shirt depicting a white panel in the middle with Robert Smith’s silhouette in black amongst the lettering. Underneath he's wearing a fishnet shirt that goes from his shoulders all the way down to stomach. The cropped shirt displays that Gerard has a belly button piercing which makes Brandon worried about him getting dress coded. He is also wearing a pair of ripped low rise skinny jeans and big chunky demonia boots. 

“Wow… you're looking really extra today.” Brandon says taking the look in. 

“I was just really feeling myself today y'know.” Gerard removes his bat shaped sunglasses as he speaks and adjusts his spiked choker, “does my hair still look really teased?” 

“Yep…” Brandon says looking up, “what class do you have first today?” 

“Fabric design I think…” he says, “what about you?” 

“Probably biology.” Brandon says. 

The two of them start walking down the hallway together. 

****

“So… how was your weekend?” Gerard asks. 

“It was sure interesting to say the least after what happened at the pep rally.” Brandon says, “me and Ronnie went on a couple of dates and he stayed the night with me until like five in the morning… he had to leave so mom wouldn't know he was there.” 

“Damn… did you guys?-” Gerard got interrupted.

“No we did not have sex!” Brandon says, “if we did I would've made it clear it happened.” 

“Okay okay…” Gerard says, “just curious, is Ronnie a top or-” 

“Can we change the subject right now?” Brandon asks. 

“Oh yep, sorry.” Gerard says. 

“Spencer also happened to be doing some weird things last weekend.” Brandon says. 

“What did he do?” Gerard says, with a disappointed overtone to his voice. 

“Basically he crashed me and Ronnie’s dates both times we went to hang out.” Brandon says. 

“Damn… that is bad! He could literally tell Pete about that kinda thing.” Gerard says. 

“He promised to not tell!” Brandon says. 

“He's a neutral party, I wouldn't trust him completely if I were you.” Gerard says. 

“Look… Spencer’s stance on this whole Pete thing is just complicated to say the least.” Brandon says. 

“Well I guess it's up to you to-” 

“Way! I still haven’t gotten your powerpoint back yet!” Gerard is interrupted by a high and shrill british accent coming from behind. 

“Oh shit… Sorry sir! I’m only a paragraph away from it being done.” Gerard turns around and frantically apologises to the small blonde teacher standing behind him. 

“It better be done by the end of the day, you’re over the deadline right now!” The teacher turns around and walks off into the room nearest to him. 

“Brandon… you’re fucked!” Gerard says. 

“Me? I’m not the one with the overdue assignment!” Brandon says. 

“No! You’re much more fucked with this whole Pete thing than you think you are.” 

****

“Why on earth do you think that Gerard?” Brandon asks. 

“Look… Pete may have no dirt on you right now, but let me tell you it’s a lot easier for him to find it than you think. While Spencer is reassuring you that nothing is gonna really happen if you say no to Ryan about this whole prom thing or you put it off… or even if Pete never finds out you’re dating Ronnie, if he sees any kind of dirt on anyone in the school he’ll always find a way. You need to be more cautious with what you say and do around him and his friends.” Gerard explains. 

“Why are you suddenly getting overprotective?” Brandon asks. 

“Lemme tell you a lil story about Roger!” Gerard says. 

“Who the hell is he?” Brandon asks. 

“The teacher I was literally talking to like… a second ago! Does Mr Taylor ring a bell for you? Health teacher?...” 

“I don’t take health.” 

“Okay… well basically me and him are hella tight. In fact he’s mostly tight with the whole student body, nearly everyone who takes health only takes it for the fact that he basically lets us do anything we want! And when he actually tries to make the class actually do something it’s wild! Like for example… to demonstrate how weed is a horrible drug… he let us all have a blunt each.” Gerard explains. 

“How has he not been fired yet?” Brandon asks. 

“No one knows, but i’m happy that he’s still here. He makes this hellhole less horrible to go to everyday.” Gerard says, “anyway… so this whole story all started last year, when yet again another health class was ending.” 

****

                                                                   *****

****

_ It was one period before lunchtime in health class. The clock was softly ticking away at every second, mostly everyone was on their phones, a badly edited PSA about the dangers of cigarettes from the 90’s was playing on the projector while hypocritically Mr Taylor was halfway through a pack. Suddenly as the preachy hip hop song about charred rotting lungs came to an end the bell rang.  _

_ “Thank you everyone! Have a good lunch.” He says as everyone leaves. It seemed like yet another normal day at school. That was until Pete noticed something completely strange hiding in plain sight.  _

****

_ Pete, Brendon, Ryan, Patrick and Spencer were standing outside the staff room eating their lunches while enviously looking at the god tier platters of cookies that the teachers were all eating up.  _

_ “So fellas! Do you all have any idea why I bring you outside the staffroom to eat today?” Pete asks everyone snidely.  _

_ “So we can get even more hungry by looking at what the upper class are eating?” Spencer asks sarcastically.  _

_ “While it does seem that way, no it isn’t the reason. Tell me guys, which teacher can’t you see eating here right now in this moment?” Pete asks.  _

_ “Uh… I don’t know, i’m not really paying attention.” Brendon says.  _

_ “Mr Taylor you idiot! I’ve been studying his movements for a week now, everytime there’s a lunch period. He’s never in the staff room.” Pete says. Everyone else makes a “ohhhh” noise in agreement.  _

_ “So what are we going to do?” Brendon asks.  _

_ “We’re gonna find out what the fuck he’s doing.”  _

****

“And sure enough.. Pete’s answer came right to him, from the janitors closet!” Gerard says. 

“What was in the janitors closet?” Brandon asks. 

“Something fuckin wild!” Gerard says. 

****

_ Pete was having an off day from his mission to expose Roger, when suddenly out of the blue as he was walking down the hallway to the cafeteria he heard the most peculiar sound. At first listen they sounded like falsettos coming out of the janitors closet. He thought maybe it was just a choir student practicing or something, but then he put his ear to the door and heard that the person inside was actually whining someone’s name. “Brian” Pete started getting suspicious, so he busted open the door and found both Mr Taylor and Dr May… Mr Taylor had his fly down.  _

****

“HE WAS FUCKING DR MAY?” Brandon nearly yelled before Gerard covered his mouth. 

“Well technically, Dr May was actually fucking him. I’m surprised you didn’t even notice how much of a power bottom he is just from looking at him.” Gerard says. 

“What happened after that?” Brandon asks. 

“It was a mess!” Gerard says. 

****

_ “Pete Wentz! Please do not tell anyone you just saw this.” Dr May whisper-yells.  _

_ “More importantly don’t tell anyone i’m a bottom!” Roger snarls defensively.  _

_ “Oh don’t worry I won’t do anything… I can pretty much guarantee it.” Pete says.  _

****

“Pete didn’t keep his promise?” Brandon asks nervously. 

“What did you fucking think he was going to do? Pete’s a little shit, of course he didn’t keep his promise.” Gerard says rolling his eyes, “No, if anything he had quite the story to tell Spencer.”

****

_ The next day in class the new “Armstrong Gossip” had dropped, everyone was watching it in health during second period.  _

_ “Hello and good morning to all students, i ‘am Spencer Smith and i ‘am here today with the Armstrong Gossip. In today’s headliner it has recently been confirmed by Pete Wentz that he has found out that biology teacher Dr Brian May and health teacher Mr Roger Taylor were caught fucking in the janitors closet, they were just barely able to get completely clothed before Wentz barged in on them. However he saw right through them when he noticed Taylor’s fly was still undone and was able to get the hint as to what they were doing. According to Wentz the details were that Taylor’s moans sound like falsettos, and he’s apparently also the bottom in the relationship. Neither teachers decided to give me any comment on this event.” Spencer rambles.  _

****

_ Mr Taylor immediately after hearing his name mentioned on the screen turned to Pete in his desk and gave him a death glare. As soon as the rest of the announcements were over, everyone began to laugh at his exposure. In response, Mr Taylor yanked Pete’s desk away from him and threw it out the window. Unfortunately landing on Mr Armstrong’s car. To make things even worse Mr Armstrong himself saw it happening as he was taking a coffee break outside.  _

_ “TAYLORRRRRRRR!”  _

_ “Holy mother mercury this ain’t gonna end well…” Pete says sarcastically.  _

****

“Anyway, Mr Armstrong made Mr Taylor pay a bunch of money for car repairs… with the money he was saving to modify his own car that he loves so much he will literally throw a hissy fit if anyone other than him is touching it. And not to mention he was smear campaigned by so many random students, under Pete’s order. So that he’ll never be able to live down the fact that he’s a bottom. Gerard finishes explaining. 

“You’re making this up.” Brandon says. 

“I’m really not Brandon! Pete is a TYRANT! A merciless, chaotic tyrant!” Gerard says, “So watch your back if Ryan ever asks you out.” 

“Damn…” Brandon says. 

“Oh shit! It’s nearly nine we gotta go to class, what do you have first?” Gerard asks. 

“Biology! God, I don’t think i’m ever gonna look at Dr May the same way again.” Brandon says wincing. 

“I have Fabric Design! I’ll see you at morning break.” Gerard says. 

“Bye!” 

“Bye!” 

Shortly before Brandon leaves, Gerard takes the extra bit of effort to pat him on the head. 

****

                                                             *****

****

As Brandon was heading to biology in the state of horror and shock from the story he had just heard from Gerard, suddenly he bumped into the person he was the least expecting to see today. 

“Oh Brandon! Hi…” Ryan said, getting awkwardly too close to him. Brendon was standing off to the side, leaning against a locker. There was a look of worry on his face. 

“Oh… hi Ryan. How are you haha?” Brandon asks trying to keep his cool. 

“I’m great actually! How about you?” Ryan asks. 

“Doing just fine.” Brandon utters. In his head all he can hear is his subconscious whispering “shit, shit, shit” over and over again. His hands start getting clammy and his arms and legs are shaking. 

“So… I’ve been meaning to ask you-” Brendon is trying his best not to sigh and put his face in his palms. Brandon’s internal monologue is saying “oh here he goes… this is where everything goes wrong”. 

“I don’t have a date for the prom yet… and I need one soon cause I don’t really want to be lonely. And I know you’re like… a bit older than me and I don’t know if you’re already dating anyone, but I really like you a lot and I was wondering if… uh… would you go out with me?” Ryan stammers out his sentences. Brendon has a look of defeat on his face. He looks down on the floor trying to hide whatever is building up inside him. Brandon’s mind is going “say no, say no, say no” but Brandon is looking at Ryan’s face within the small pause they’re in right now and he sees that Ryan is blushing fire-truck red and he’s looking up at Brandon’s face with these big puppy dog eyes that Brandon hates in a way he can’t describe. On impulse he says “okay… maybe just for the night I guess. I’ll give myself time to think about whether we should be a thing past prom though.” 

Ryan begins to blush harder and he giggles a little bit. 

“Oh my god! Thank you Brandon! Ahhhhhhh… I guess i’ll see you around then… partner!” After Ryan says the word partner, that’s when Brandon realises he made the biggest mistake of his life. Ryan walks away from him with Brendon, Ryan has the biggest smirk on his face. Brendon’s eyes are wide and his mouth is gaping open. Ryan drags him by the arm all the way to the nearest bathrooms. 

“Oh god…” Is all Brandon is able to say to himself. He has kept on promising to himself, to Ronnie and to all his friends he wouldn’t do it… but he did it! Now his life was never going to be the same. 

****

[ brandon’s house | 5:00 pm | september 16th ] 

****

“Ronnie, i’m so disappointed in myself right now.” Brandon groans into the monitor on yet again another Skype call with Ronnie. All Ronnie can do is sigh and facepalm himself. 

“What did you do Brandon?” Ronnie asks worriedly. 

“What do you think?....” Brandon pauses dramatically. 

“Oh no… Oh no…. YOU DID NOT!” Ronnie slowly raises his voice. 

“I said yes to Ryan, and I know, I KNOW! I TRIED TO SAY NO BUT-”

“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BRANDON! WHAT WAS IT?” Ronnie shouts. 

“You know me… i’m a sensitive guy. I was just so afraid of making him upset because he’s young and sweet and I feel it would be very easy to hurt his feelings if I ever said the wrong thing. So I put him out of his misery.” Brandon says. Ronnie sighs again, but not in frustration but this time in sympathy. 

“You know that’s one of the things I love about you the most. Your empathy!” Ronnie says, “it was one of the things I loved seeing when I was getting to know you back in the day. Sadly though, sometimes you let it overtake you and it becomes a weakness. You need to learn to not let other people like Ryan and Pete control you Brandon, or else you won’t get to the places you want to go, cause you’re not being assertive. It shouldn’t matter what you think will happen if you say no, or if there are several sob stories going around the school about Pete this and Pete that. I’m saying this because I love you, you need to go to Ryan and tell him that you can’t do this! Okay?... have I made it clear enough?” Ronnie rants. 

“Yes…” Brandon says, “I’ll do it! You’re right!” 

“See that’s what I want to hear.” Ronnie says, “now, is there anything else that’s been on your mind lately?” 

“Well… Gerard told me the most wild story today-” 

****

[ ryan’s house | 9:00 pm | september 16th ]

****

Ever since Ryan had successfully asked out Brandon, it was the only thing he was able to talk about for the rest of the school day, all the way up until after school. Now both of them were hanging out at Ryan’s and he was still going strong with his excitement. For the majority of that time Brendon had felt a weird feeling within his stomach he had never felt before. It felt like guilt even though he had done nothing wrong, it seemed like every time Ryan mentioned victory Brendon was just in even more emotional pain. Yet once again, we’ve learnt to know that if you even consider asking Brendon if this feeling is jealousy he’ll insist that he doesn’t love Ryan in that way. He really doesn’t at all! Ryan is nothing but his best friend, he just wants to make sure he never gets hurt emotionally or physically. He wants to spend every single day of his life with him and he definitely can’t imagine a life without him. He would be miserable if he just disappeared one day, but… isn’t that how best friends feel? Just best friends? Right?... of course! Brendon just assumed this major hurt he was feeling was just a result of overprotective instincts. He especially felt weird when he heard Brandon tell Ryan that he wasn’t sure about taking the relationship further after prom. He saw heartbreak in Ryan waiting to happen and he wanted to warn him, but having known Ryan for the longest time he just knew what was gonna happen again cause it had happened several times before. He was gonna not listen, but when the two of them arrived at home again, Brendon was done! He needed to tell Ryan that him and Brandon were never gonna last, and he was gonna have to be harsh this time. He didn’t care if Ryan was going to have to back out kicking and screaming, Brendon just needed to break the silence and save Ryan from his own naivety again. 

****

Brendon was quiet that afternoon as the two boys sat on Ryan’s bedroom floor, acoustic guitars in hand. This was particularly odd as Brendon was usually the furthest thing from quiet, especially around Ryan.

“Hey, Bren, are you alright?” Ryan asked, worried about his friend.

“I’m fine. I’m not really the issue. Are you alright, Ryan?”

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“I mean with this whole Brandon thing. Very out of character.”

Ryan was quite taken aback to say the least. This was the first time Brendon had been anything but supportive towards any of his decisions.

“Well that’s an asshole thing to say isn’t it?”

Brendon sighed. “Look dude, I’m not trying to be a dick but I doubt this whole thing will last. The prom thing is cute and all but…”

“But what?” Ryan asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Isn’t it obvious he’s not the type of person you’d go long term with?”

“Okay now you’re just being a bitch. He said yes! Why can’t you just support me?”

“Look call me an asshole if you like but I just don’t see the two of you lasting any longer than prom.”

“And why exactly is that?”

“He’s not your type!”

“What’s my type then, if you know me so well?”

“Well… uh… it’s uhh... not Brandon.”

“Can you actually leave? Like get out of my fucking house?”

Ryan was fed up. What was Brendon’s problem? Why was he so violently opposed to Ryan being in a long term relationship? He was really creating a problem for no reason at all.

As Brendon stormed through Ryan’s hallway and out his door, he began to wonder, why was it that he hated Ryan and Brandon together so much? After a couple moments of thought he decided that Brandon simply had a punchable face. That was easier to believe than the possible fact that Brendon’s feelings for Ryan were a little deeper set than your typical friendship.

****

As Brendon was out the door, for a moment he stood on the curb woefully staring at the upstairs window where Ryan’s bedroom was. He stood there as two small tears formed in his eyes, believing that this might be the last time he would’ve ever been in that room. All the sleepovers they had where they’d be staring up at Ryan’s ceiling which had little glow in the dark stars and planet stickers on it, having a sweet meaningful conversation about life… Brendon would miss that and yet he still couldn’t place a finger on why he was as intensely sad as he was apart from just losing his friend. He was going to miss the mornings when he’d wake up early and notice Ryan’s arm had twisted around his waist accidentally. Nothing would ever feel as comforting as that… all because of another boy that Ryan couldn’t shut his pretty little mouth about. Brendon was only trying to protect him as always… he did it out of love… in a friends way of course and nothing more! He loved him (as a friend) so much he wanted to grab a pebble off the road, throw it at his window and apologise tearfully to him even if he’d have to sit through to clean up Ryan’s emotional messes after prom. He loved him so much (as a friend OF COURSE) that he’d kill to have another sleepover and reach the level of intimacy where they could have their arms around each-other and not question a thing cause they trusted each-other so much. (as friends do) 

****

But Brendon left… maybe he’d return but for now he had to grieve, and maybe let Ryan learn his lesson on his own. 

****

[ armstrong high | 12:00 am | September 17th ]

****

“Brendon Boyd Urie! I never thought the day would come where i’d see you going to school in that tacky thing.” One of Brendon’s sisters exclaims from the kitchen as he was leaving for school that morning. Brendon yet again had made another excuse overnight about why he thought Ryan probably was pushing him away. Maybe he just wasn’t “emo” anymore and so he simply needed to keep with the times. Ryan probably didn’t really love Brandon, he just wanted to be him, and if Brendon needed to wear tacky glitter suit jackets and makeup and get shunned by Pete to catch his attention then that’s what he needed to do. Honestly there was probably more to this logic, but the main point is… Brendon basically tried to become Brandon that day. It was sure a risky move, the rest of his group were making rather critical faces at him as they met up that morning. Pete was also rather disapproving, luckily the only thing he said in regards to Brendon’s look was “you’re on thin ice!” Which was a relief. Brendon was only going to do this kind of thing for a day only anyway, he just needed Ryan’s attention because just being his normal self wasn’t going to cut it. 

****

But the real complications came around as the bell rang for morning break, Brendon was on his way into the cafeteria to sit with his group at lunch. He hadn’t seen Ryan around earlier in the morning and thought that the first impression of this “new Brendon” would be spot on as he made his entrance, but he was stopped along the way when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. 

“Hey, am I mistaken or is that the same gucci jacket that I have?” Brendon turns around and sees that it was Brandon himself trying to get his attention. 

“Uh… yeah, it is gucci. I think it was my dad’s back when he was going through a… questionable phase.” Brendon says nervously. He eyes Brandon up and down and then suddenly it hits him that Brandon is wearing the same jacket as him… but then he takes a closer look and realises that from head to toe their look is identical. Same glitter tear makeup, same skater chain belt, same shoes and everything else INCLUDING the jacket. Brandon too looks up and down Brendon’s look and realises that their minds were just a little bit too synced this morning. They slowly back away from each-other point in each-other’s faces and scream. 

****

At either the most perfect (or the worst) moment, Pete and Ryan bust through the cafeteria doors into the hallway as they hear the commotion. Spencer is also out holding a camera, ready to film as he senses drama happening. 

“Well well well, look what we have here.” Pete says, “See Brendon! This is what happens when you experiment with your style. You slowly begin to conform, and as you can see here you have conformed to Brandon’s stupid poser ideals. However… I know that one of us was bound to pull this off someday, so I come to school with a pack of spare emo clothes and eyeliner. Come to the bathroom with me and let me change you.” 

“Uh… okay…” Brendon says completely lost for words. Pete slowly drags him by the arm out the hallway all the way to the bathroom. 

“What an embarrassment.” Ryan says scoffing and going back into the cafeteria. As he is about to walk back through the door he slides his arm around Brandon. 

“See you at prom babe!” Ryan says in a not-so-smooth way. Brandon cringes at Ryan’s flirtatiousness, as does Brendon as he continues to witness everything. 

“Oh yes… this is absolutely juicy.” Spencer says clearly amused as he films the dragging and Brandon, who is still standing completely perplexed in the middle of the hallway. Before Pete shoves Brendon into the first mens’ room he sees, for that moment he feels like the simulation just broke. 

****

[ english class | 1:10 | september 17th ] 

****

“What the FUCK… what.., the fuck… what is fucking happening? Why does life gotta be like that?” Brandon says in between heavy pauses to hyperventilate. Hayley and Gerard are sitting on either side of him stroking his shoulders trying to calm him down. 

“Brandon, it’s okay. You’ll be okay, just tell us fully what was happening. It’s been ten whole minutes and you still haven’t told us.” Gerard says. 

Brandon takes a long deep breath and sighs. 

“Okay… I think Brendon is trying to STEAL my style!” Brandon says. He wants to shout it, but since the teacher is rambling about whatever the fuck “linking to the theme” is, he’s whispering - but it’s the loudest possible whisper you can hear. 

“Wait what?” Hayley asks, “go off…” 

“He was wearing the EXACT SAME gucci jacket! The same fucking chains!.... The same makeup! He had the AUDACITY to make fun of my glitter tears with Pete and then fucking COPY ME! That SNAKE! I hate him!” Brandon rants. 

“That’s so weird” Gerard says, “I haven’t seen him today.” 

“Y’know what’s also weird?” Hayley asks. 

“What?” Gerard asks. 

“Pete’s not in class right now... “ Hayley says, “He normally sits at the back of this room.” 

“When did you last see him?” Gerard asks. 

“He was in music with me, and I saw him at the cafeteria at morning break before he left.” Hayley says. 

“Oh yeah, and then after me and Brendon freaked out in the hallway, Pete dragged Brendon into the bathroom to apparently switch his clothing. I haven’t seen him since.” Brandon says. 

“Knowing that it was Pete that dragged him in, it probably means that something wild is gonna happen.” Gerard says. 

“What are you trying to imply Gerard? Brendon is a sophomore!” Hayley says. 

“They’re not gonna have sex you dumbass!” Gerard whisper-shouts, “probably something worse and more overdramatic.” 

Suddenly there’s an awkward moment of silence and the entire class overhears Gerard. 

“What is it Way?” The teacher asks. 

“Uh… nothing.” Gerard stutters awkwardly. 

“Stay on task!” The teacher frustratingly groans at him before turning back to the board. 

“Guys, just in general we need to stay on track right now. I’m having a mental breakdown right now because i’ve been fucking COPIED!” Brandon nearly whisper-yells. 

****

[ pete’s bedroom | 4:00 pm | september 17th ] 

****

“Remind me again why we had to ditch the last three periods of school, Pete?” Brendon asks sarcastically from the foot of Pete’s bed

Pete looks up from his bass, which seems to be prioritised over whatever other wild shit was going on in his brain. 

“I’m sorry but this morning was an embarrassment. I didn’t want to have to see the repercussions my dude.” 

Brendon sighs. “No clue what that has to do with me failing all the rest of my classes but whatever.”

“Today fuckin sucked and you know it, man, I’ve got two 12-packs of Bud Lights in my mini fridge, let’s forget about it.” Pete suggests with a smirk.

Brendon falls back onto Pete’s bed. “Y’know what, my parents are gonna kill me when I get home either way because of us skipping school, let’s fuckin do it brother.”

Pete runs out to the garage to grab his stocked up shitty frat boy beer. It’s less than a minute until he returns, arms completely full. 

“Let’s get lit” Pete says yet again with that devilish smirk. 

“Don’t fucking say that again.” Brendon says, laughing and rolling his eyes. 

****

[ pete’s back porch, 10 and a half beers later | 7:36pm | september 17th ]

****

“Dude, you know who I fucking hate? Like reeeaaally fucking hate?” Pete asks obnoxiously loudly.

“Who bro?”

“Fuckin…. Brandon Flowers or whatever.”

“Bruh he’s like..” Brendon begins before he’s interrupted.

“Fuckin ugly poser bitch with stupid hair and shit.”

“Dude, I don’t know, he’s not THAT bad y’know if we’re being honest…”

“Bro he’s actually fucking shit what are you on about?”

“Pete… holy shit…” Brendon’s eyes widen as he drunkenly grabs Pete’s arm to stabilise himself. “Dude I know why I’ve been so weird and shit around like… Ryan. Brandon. Fucking everyone lately.”

“Why’s that, homie?” 

“Like, Ryan, he’s… kinda like not ugly and shit… like no homo… wait yeah homo. Full homo I think. Fuck.”

“Dude holy shit? So you’re like… jealous and shit. Bruh valid as fuck. Fuck Brandon even MORE. Not literally though. Ew.” Pete falls off his chair, red faced with laughter. 

“Bro holy fuck.” Brendon begins to laugh as well and follows Pete in face planting on the porch.

“Dude I have a plan.” Pete says with a look of purpose in his eyes.

“What’s that, homeslice breadslice?”

“Let’s go play golf… and pretend the balls are Brandon Flowers.”

“Ew don’t make me think of Brandon’s balls dude….”

“Literally shut the fuck up now you’re making me think of Brandon’s balls oh god oh fuck.”

****

[ the golf course by pete’s house | 5:47am | september 18th ]

****

Brendon and Pete awoke sprawled out on the damp grass of the golf course, Pete’s phone still playing There Is A Light That Never Goes Out at full volume, hand in hand with golf clubs in the other. Golf balls covering them from head toe. (No homo though, because Brendon is of course in love with Ryan!) 

“Yo… What the fuck happened last night?” Brendon murmurs groggily. 

“We were wildin bro…” Pete says. He turns around on his side to look Brendon in the eyes. 

“Wait what? Are you sayin we fucked?” Brendon asks. 

“No what? Ew… you literally confessed your undying love for Ryan last night.” Pete retaliates. 

“Oh fuck… Did I really mean it?” Brendon asks. 

“Uh yes…” Pete says. “Goddamnit Brendon!” 

“You know… maybe i’m okay with that. Maybe, just maybe! I guess I just need to stop repressing my feelings or some shit. I wish I could say something a bit deeper but well… I guess that’s just how it be right now. I like Ryan, in fact I love him. Period.” Brendon exclaims. 

“Bro… you snapped I guess. Brendon, when Ryan gets his heart broken by that little shit Brandon, you know i’ll do anything in my power to make sure you and Ryan go full homo. But even if Ryan doesn’t like you back i’ll just fucking ruin Brandon’s life to make you feel better.” Pete schemes. 

“Thank you Pete, I don’t know what I’d do without a homie like you.” Brendon says. 

****

[ armstrong high after a good long pep talk | 8:30am | september 18th ] 

****

“Alright Brandon! Ronnie has said it, i’ve said it, Hayley too and you know what you need to do.” Gerard says. 

“I know I know… I need to stop being a pussy. I need to call it off with Ryan, I know!” Brandon says. 

“Things will be chaotic with Pete, but it’s been chaotic since the beginning of time. If bad shit happens as a result of you turning down Ryan, remember that we will be able to get through this like all the shit that we’ve ever been through, and like how everyone else who’s survived Pete’s tyranny has too. I mean… look at Roger for fucks sake, he destroyed school property as a result of Pete exposing him and he’s still out here kickin! You can too and I know it.” Gerard says. 

“Thank you guys, I don’t know how I could be able to do this without you. You’re all the best bunch of art gays I could ever have.” Brandon says. 

“We believe in you Brandon! Now… go turn down that annoying little child.” Hayley says. 

“You’re being a little harsh on him Hayley.” Brandon says. 

“Whatever…” Hayley and Gerard walk away from Brandon, Brandon takes a deep breath and makes his way to where Ryan’s locker is. 

****

Ryan is innocently humming along as he’s getting his books out of his locker, completely unaware of the romantic thoughts of him that raced through Brendon’s mind as him and Pete got totally wasted. The hours of pep talk that were given to Brandon because he was too afraid to tell him no and hurt his feelings, how his perfect little world where everything was going his way would have to be be shattered within the span of a few minutes for the sake of the greater good… or the bad. It was honestly hard to tell. Brandon saw him grabbing his books and holding them close to his chest after cheerfully closing the locker door. He catches Brandon’s eye and instantly they gleam with joy and his mouth turns up into a sweet crooked smile. 

“Brandon! What a surprise! So nice to see you. How are you going?” Ryan says. His sweet sweet smile is almost too sickishly perfect for Brandon to resist, but he knew that he had to put his foot down. 

“I’m good thank you… look… I need to tell you something. Something really important!” Brandon says. He takes a huge gulp after speaking. 

“Yeah?” Ryan asks, his eyes gleam just the slightest bit again. 

“I need to talk to you about prom... “ Brandon says, “Ryan, I really like you as a person. Out of all of Pete’s group you are probably the most nice and misunderstood person and you’re literally nothing but kind to me… and i’m very flattered that you like me that much. Really, it makes me feel great to know that i’m liked that much by someone, however… it hurts me very much to say that… we can’t do this.” Brandon explains. 

“W-w-What?...” Ryan stutters. His face suddenly falls, his eyes are still glassy but not in the bright way they were before. It almost seemed as if they were about to melt off before Brandon’s eyes. 

“Ryan, I really like you! Like… I legitimately think you’re a wonderful person, just not in that way. I’m too old for you too! I just don’t think we can do this, i’m very sorry.” 

For a moment the two of them stare into each-other’s eyes for what seems like a moment in slow motion. Ryan’s eyes now have large tears beading up within them, his mouth crinkles into a frown and he’s blushing completely red in the face. 

“Brandon… y’know- I understand- it’s fine… i’m-uh-uhhhhhhh-” Ryan is not able to finish his sentence, he wipes away his own tears and whimpers as he runs off as far as he can. 

“Ryan wait- please-.....” Brandon says. He wants to chase him and reverse everything that just happened but he knew he had to do it even if there were to be consequences. Brandon had to do it for the greater good. 

****

Ryan runs off into the nearest mens room and slams the door with anger behind him, but before he’s able to shut himself in a cubicle until the bell for his first class goes he sees Pete with a sly expression on his face. Doing his eyeliner in front of the mirror. 

“Yo… Ryan, what the fuck you’re crying. What happened?” Pete asks. He immediately rushes to his aid and lets Ryan lean into his chest as he sobs uncontrollably. 

“B-b-b-buh-brandon... “ is all Ryan manages to say. 

“Say no more.” Pete says, “What did that little shit say?” 

“Oh Pete- he- uh… let me down gently- don’t worry… but it still hurts.” Ryan leans back in to cry again. 

“That’s still no excuse! You’re Ryan Ross for crying out loud, you deserve so much better. In fact- you deserve the whole world. It’s nothing but my job to just give it to you. I promise.” Pete continues to hold Ryan tightly to his chest but as Ryan isn’t looking, Pete looks to himself in the mirror and whispers to himself. 

“I’ll destroy that absolute wretch of a human if it’s the last thing I do.” 

****  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, hope that whoever's reading this is excited for more BEEF! I sure love me some good beef. 
> 
> Edie xoxo


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